Ohio History Journal

EDWIN M. STANTON AT KENYON

 

by WYMAN W. PARKER

Librarian, Kenyon College

Stanton, the secretary of war in Lincoln's cabinet, is still a con-

troversial figure. Stanton, the youthful school boy, is even more

elusive, but recently-located early letters written in college and

in the years directly afterwards have cast more light upon the

picture. The letters give an impression slightly at variance with

the published reminiscences of his contemporaries, but such were

tempered by time and the fact that Stanton was already a public

figure when the anecdotes were printed. The two sources together

give a consistent and reliable picture of an engaging youth working

out his oats preparatory to settling down to a great career.

The letters document Stanton's residence at Kenyon to September

1832 and substantiate his deep regret at not being able to continue

college. Thus these letters have cleared up part of the chronology

of Stanton's early life, which has been so variously reported by his

biographers. Opportunity is taken here to restate from contemporary

sources what is authentically known concerning his college days

in order to correct the misstatements and inaccuracies of existing

Stanton biographies in the hope that this will be of service to future

biographers. There is no good biography of Stanton, and students

of history need a critical appraisal of him not only because of his

position in history but also because of his relationship to Lincoln

during the critical period of the Civil War.

The years at Kenyon College came at an impressionable period

in Stanton's life and exerted a positive influence upon him in respect

to politics, religion, and marriage. His political allegiance changed

at this time, and those views especially important in regard to

secession and nullification which he gained as a northern member

of the local debating society were those to which he cleaved in his

administration of public office. The acquaintance he made in Kenyon,

a sectarian college, with Episcopalian doctrine was later to determine

his choice of a church. His first wife, whom he loved so dearly,

233

• 1
 

234    Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly

had lived in Gambier, the village supported by the college, and

it is likely that he first met her in the college community. Surely

they shared an active interest in the recently founded college and

village when they were courting in Columbus at the home of a

Kenyon trustee. Later their son was to graduate from this college,

and Stanton himself during the crowded war years showed his

affection for it by returning to Gambier, where he visited his

sister, who was then a village resident.

When in Kenyon College, Stanton was popular with both faculty

and students, being a student leader at least in contending with

the established order. High-spirited and original, he undoubtedly

was involved in more pranks than have been recorded. His readiness

for fun was matched by a daring that must have made him a campus

favorite. His sense of justice was not intimidated by the restraints

of local laws which must have been irksome if not unreasonable.

When too deeply involved, as in the case quoted below1 of Bishop

Chase's "borrowed" horse, he readily faced up to his duty, although

his tears before the bishop may be suspect.

Stanton's interest in young ladies as shown in these letters was

not unusual in a young man of his spirit but was balanced by an

avid interest in books and in omnivorously dispatching them. He

was evidently none too strong, for he was frequently sick during

this period; but he obviously did not favor himself, for the letters

show that he was as ready for a night out courting or carousing as

he was to sit up with cholera victims in the midst of a great epidemic.

His views of Columbus society reported in the fourth letter were

naturally colored by his current interest in girls and by finding few

boys in trade who could match his ready intelligence. His first

business contacts in a large city resulted understandably in some

disillusionment. This formative period must have been a turbulent

one for Stanton with an ever-present threat of cholera, the dis-

appointment of being unable to continue college, and some frus-

tration in getting under way for his professional law studies.

One must admire this lad's courage while observing him in the

process of growing up. On his own at an early age, he had no easy

planned life ahead. Passing through a difficult adolescent period,

 

1 P. 236.

• 2
 

Edwin M. Stanton at Kenyon               235

he made a happy and profitable time of his college years. His love

of fun and ready wit gained him many lifelong friends from this

period. It took courage to write, "Time and I against any two,"

as Stanton did on September 27, 1833, in reporting that his guardian

bade him stay in Columbus rather than return to Kenyon as he

desired. This fortitude was rewarded, for in the next letter four

months later Stanton happily asserts his guardian's wisdom in re-

quiring him to return to Steubenville for the law training he wished.

His letters exhibit a racy attitude which is distinctly modern and

not a little amazing in a day when most students' letters were devout

and austerely moral. It appears from lack of any evidence to the

contrary that Stanton did not take much interest in the parochial

extracurricular activities at Kenyon. However, the active part he

took in the debates at Gambier and Steubenville exhibits a genuine

interest that is definitely directed toward his subsequent career. The

last letter to his schoolmate McClintock, although not improved in

schoolboy repartee, shows the distinct purpose, lacking in the earlier

letters, of a man who has already found his profession.

Stanton had but a year and a half of formal college education.

Upon his father's death, when Stanton was but thirteen, he was

apprenticed to James Turnbull, who conducted a prosperous book-

store in Steubenville, Stanton's birthplace. For his first year of work

he received $50 in addition to the privilege of continuing his studies

at the Rev. George Buchanan's Latin school. In 1831, after three

years in the bookshop, Stanton expressed a desire to receive a

college education before deciding upon a career, and Turnbull

evidently temporarily released him from his contract. Daniel Collier,

Stanton's guardian, advanced the money necessary for college. There-

fore at seventeen Stanton left for Gambler, Ohio, to attend Kenyon,

one of the four colleges then in Ohio. Tuition at that time at

Kenyon College was $70 for the full forty weeks of the academic

year, but unlike today the sum included board, tuition, room-rent,

fuel, and light. There were at this time an estimated six hundred

students in the thirteen colleges west of the Alleghenies.

Stanton arrived at Gambier for the beginning of the summer

session, or second semester, on April 21, 1831. Beginning the fall

term as a sophomore, he attended the full year from November 4,

• 3
 

236     Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly

1831, through September 5, 1832. These were critical years in the

college, as Bishop Chase had returned from his travels in behalf

of the diocese and the college to administer an autocratic rule. The

faculty, accustomed to self-government in his frequent absences,

understandably enough were rebellious, and printed letters were

exchanged.² At the time of the Ohio diocesan convention held in

Gambler from September 7 to 10, 1831, the bishop made an indig-

nant address to the convention concerning "the rash act of these

gentlemen" who presented him with "a threatening letter."³ As a

result of the trustees' attempt to mediate and draw up bylaws

for the government of the faculty, the bishop resigned, before the

convention adjourned, not only from the college which he had

founded with funds collected in England in 1824 but also from

his diocese. All of this furor could not have been kept from the

students and must have furnished exciting conversation.

Awe of the bishop did not prevent Stanton, who was then de-

scribed as "young, bright, and ever ready for fun and frolic,"⁴ from

borrowing without permission the bishop's favorite horse, "Cincin-

natus," for a night's excursion some miles into the countryside

to visit a young lady. It is related that the freshman Stanton and

S. A. Bronson, a sophomore (later theological professor, trustee,

and president of Kenyon), rode double on the animal to visit the

Douglass sisters.⁵ The exhausted horse was found next morning in

the stable by the bishop, who was irate and promised the severest

punishment for whoever had abused his beloved animal. Heman

Dyer, a theological student and principal of the Kenyon Grammar

School, knew Stanton better than any of the faculty and spoke in

his behalf when suspicion turned his way. Dyer urged that Stanton

go to the bishop and make a clean breast of it, which he did. Upon

asking Chase's forgiveness, he was pardoned, but not until both

were reduced to tears in contemplation of Stanton's plight: his

widowed mother and the lot that was before him. Dyer does not

2 Circular, Gambier, July 14, 1831 (autograph signature: Phila Chase); Letter

to Bishop Chase, Kenyon College, July 25, 1831 (printed signature: "The Professors

of Kenyon College").

3 Journal of the Proceedings of the Fourteenth Annual Convention of the Protestant

Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Ohio (Gambier, 1831).

4 Heman Dyer, Records of an Active Life (New York, 1886), 69.

5 Frank A. Flower, Edwin McMasters Stanton (Akron, 1905), 28.

• 4
 

Edwin M. Stanton at Kenyon                    237

mention that this expedition was undertaken to visit a young lady,

but this omission may be explained by the circumstance of the

Rev. Heman Dyer's marriage to Miss Almira Douglass of Gambler

the following year. Certainly this expedition was consistent with

Stanton's own interests as expressed in his letters.6

The institution that Stanton attended had slight resemblance to

the Kenyon College of a century later with its many solid gothic

buildings. Old Kenyon, the first American example of collegiate

gothic, was the only permanent building standing in 1831. The

center section with walls four feet thick at the base had been

erected by English stone masons brought from England by Bishop

Chase. Its graceful spire had been sketched by Charles Bulfinch,

an architect of the national capitol, at the time Bishop Chase was in

Washington in 1828 attempting vainly to secure additional lands

for the college from congress.⁷ There was an overflow of students

from the dormitory's three-decker built-in berths,⁸ resulting in a

statement on December 16, 1831, in the weekly newspaper, the

Gambier Observer, that no more students were needed for the

college or the grammar school until additional accommodations

had been completed. Rosse Chapel, the other existing stone building

started by Chase, had only the basement completed and roofed over

for the frequent use of religious gatherings.⁹ There were also on

the hill ugly frame buildings for farming and for housing college

students until Old Kenyon had been prepared for occupancy. "Old

Seventy Four," named from its unflattering resemblance to a ship

of the line, at this time was used by the younger grammar school

students and was notorious for its many discomforts. There were

still standing rude log cabins occupied originally by the bishop's

family, the workmen, and the earliest students when the plateau

6 Dyer, Records of an Active Life, 258, relates that when Stanton introduced

him to President Lincoln and his cabinet, Stanton said, "Mr. President, allow me

to introduce to you my friend, the Rev. Dr. Dyer of New York. He was my early

friend in college, and stood by me when I needed a friend."

7 Richard G. Salomon, "Philander Chase, Norman Nash, and Charles Bulfinch,

A Study in the Origins of Old Kenyon," Historical Magazine of the Episcopal

Church, XV (1946), 209-213.

8 George F. Smythe, Kenyon College, Its First Century (New Haven, 1924),

Appendix II.

9 Both these earliest buildings have been burned to the ground (Rosse in 1897,

Old Kenyon in 1949) and restored exactly in exterior lines.

• 5
 

238     Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly

was but a wilderness in 1827.10 The enthusiasm of the students

had been directed by means of a "Horticultural Society" toward

making an extensive garden to supply the commons table with fresh

vegetables. These gardens, just off the college center path, were

protected by high board fences from the many roving pigs of the

college farm. It was no doubt in these gardens that a professor

observed Stanton procuring potatoes for personal consumption. As

recalled by college-mate Bronson, the professor called out, "Stanton,

those potatoes belong to the college." "So do I," answered Stanton

and continued digging, which appeared to settle the matter.11

The religious discipline of the college was strict, and attendance

at daily morning and evening prayers in the chapel was required

of all, in addition to "every exercise of public worship" on Sunday.12

This discipline made an impression on Stanton, for he came to

college a Methodist but subsequently joined the Episcopal Church.

Kenyon, like many other colleges in 1831, experienced religious

"revivals" through the spontaneous interest and increased seriousness

of the students, which led in midwinter to additional services held

in the college halls. These meetings were conducted by the older

theological students and were responsible for inducing additional

men to go into the ministry. Dyer in describing two of such periods

while he was in Gambier says the interest was so great on one

occasion that all college exercises were suspended for one or two

days.13

There were other worthy causes which the earnest student could

embrace then. The Colonization Society was celebrating its fourth

anniversary in 1832, the Missionary Society had been founded the

previous year, but the older Temperance Society of Kenyon College

and Vicinity was the strongest of all, with one hundred and sixty-

seven members. Indeed, fifty members of the latter formed a society

for total abstinence from tobacco, having been so moved by the

Rev. James McElroy's closing remarks before the Temperance

Society on February 22, 1832, which were devoted to proving the

use of tobacco as little less injurious than intemperance in drinking.14

10 Smythe, Kenyon College, Chapter XII.

11 Flower, E. M. Stanton, 28.

12 Kenyon College Catalogue (Gambier, 1831-32).

13 Dyer, Records of an Active Life, 56.

14 Gambier Observer, March 9, 1832.

• 6
 

Edwin M. Stanton at Kenyon                  239

The local weekly paper is crammed with moral tales of the fate

of drunkards, long reports of the American Board of Missions, and

an occasional article on cholera, which was beginning to assume

epidemic proportions in some of the larger cities. It is not likely

that Stanton was concerned deeply with groups devoted to such

specialized interests, although he inquires later with affection about

many of the faculty leaders of these societies. Cholera in less than

a year was of chief import to him.

The administration was not unsatisfied as to the state of the

college, reporting, in public answer to the late president's printed

accusations of disorder and insubordination among the students,15

that some few instances of disobedience such as happen in most

institutions had occurred in the four or five months since the bishop's

departure, but "that at no previous period has greater propriety of

deportment, or more rapid proficiency in their studies been exhibited

by the students generally."16 The above pranks probably included

the expulsion in midwinter by the students of an unpopular tutor.

Stanton was the leader of a ruckus in the dining hall by which the

poor tutor, upon being bombarded by all sorts of breadstuffs, was

informed of his regard by the whole student body and driven out

of the hall. He soon left the college entirely and the faculty dropped

the matter as being too complicated to solve. Dyer explains that

the tutor had betrayed the confidence of the students, and Stanton

was determined that this two-faced dealer should be punished,

law or not, and was willing to suffer the consequences. Dyer goes

on to say, "This was a marked trait in Mr. Stanton's character,

and no doubt had much to do in shaping his future career. His

innate sense of justice made him restive under the restraints of the

forms of law."17

Kenyon, like most other colleges of the early nineteenth century,

had an active literary society. The Philomathesian Society, founded

by the students in 1827 in Worthington, Ohio, just before the

college moved to Gambier, was an active society meeting weekly.

The society proudly maintained a library and guarded jealously the

15 "Bishop Chase's Defense of Himself Against the Late Conspiracy at Gambier,

Ohio, in a Series of Letters to His Friends," a supplement to the Western Herald

and Steubenville Gazette (final letter dated February 9, 1832).

16 Gambier Observer, March 2, 1832.

17 Dyer, Records of an Active Life, 71-73.

• 7
 

240     Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly

rights to its use. Debates among members at each meeting were

scheduled in advance and were frequently open to the faculty.

Compositions, orations, and forensics were also regularly scheduled

for each of these Friday evening meetings. Nullification was being

hotly discussed throughout the nation, and the opposing views must

have been presented often under various guises at these forums.

Kenyon, an Episcopal school not far from the Mason-Dixon line,

drew men from the South as well as the North. During Stanton's

last year in Gambier twenty-seven out of the sixty men in college,

were from southern states. In 1832, because party spirit was running

so high, permission was secured from the faculty to form two

societies from the Philomathesian to resolve the society's difficulties.

Twelve men resigned, taking their proportion of the library; but

losing the toss of a coin for the society name, they became the Nu

Pi Kappa Society. These men were all from Maryland and Virginia

except Charles Sigourney of Hartford, Connecticut, a stepson of

Lydia Sigourney, the American Mrs. Hemans.

Stanton was elected to the Philomathesian Society on February 17,

1832, in the first semester of his sophomore year.18 As the numbers

of northern and southern men were then nearly equal within the

society, a system of pairing was observed in the election of new

members to the society that semester. No candidate who could not

"define his position" was admitted in the struggle for predominance

between the factions.19 Stanton was the last of the hotly contested

candidates who was voted membership. Of nine students who

acquired Philomathesian status that semester, five resigned before

the end of the next term when the split occurred.20 That Stanton

appreciated the honor of election there can be little doubt, for shortly

thereafter the secretary was directed to present the thanks of the

society "voted to Mr. Stanton for the handsome present made it of

a Record Book."²¹ The new book had a gold-stamped red-leather

label bearing the legend "Presented by E. M. Stanton," which may

have been supplied with the volume, for the secretary was only

 

18 Philomathesian Society, Minute Book, 1827-1832. Kenyon College Library.

19 Peter Neff, History . . . of the Philomathesian Society (Gambier, 1853), 6.

20 Philomathesian Society, Minute Book, April 1832-1848 (leather label on cover:

"Presented by E. M. Stanton"). Kenyon College Library.

21 Ibid., May 18, 1832.

• 8
 

Edwin M. Stanton at Kenyon                  241

directed to record future proceedings in the new book and to

preserve the old volume which was but three-quarters filled.

Joining Philomathesian as a northern supporter was an important

political decision in Stanton's career, for his father had ardently

advocated Adams in the struggle with Jackson in 1824, and Stanton

may be presumed to have been in accord with his father's principles

in 1828. However, in 1832 he "went over to Jackson," in the words

of a Whig squire of Steubenville. Intervening were the years at

Kenyon and membership in the Philomathesian Society. Bronson

remembers Stanton in his Columbus office in 1833 introducing him

to a southern man by saying, "Here is 'Father' Bronson. We fought

the South together at Kenyon, and whipped."²² Always thereafter

Stanton was an enthusiastic supporter of the cause of the Union

and the maintenance of its authority.

Stanton did his share in the society, serving on several committees

in minor capacities. His two scheduled debates, as one of two men

defending the affirmative in each case, were evidently not dis-

tinguished performances, as the negative was favored in both

decisions. His only other debate during the short period he was

active in Philo was when he substituted for an absent man on the

affirmative. This, interestingly enough, was a typical wrangler's

question of the day, which several years later would be of much

more intimate concern to him, "Does the life of the agriculturalist

conduce more to happiness, than that of the lawyer?" This must

have been a better performance, as the society voted for the

affirmative.23 Stanton acknowledged the value of his Philomathesian

membership by saying in an address before the society some years

after the Civil War, that its exercises with their free discussion of

public questions had helped him in forming his opinions in after

years.24

Stanton was elected secretary in the annual elections at the end

of the term, but as he left college shortly afterwards, he never

22 George C. Gorham, Life and Public Services of Edwin M. Stanton (New York,

1899), 16.

23 Philomathesian Society, Minutes, July 13, 1832. A. T. McClintock, later a

lawyer, to whom four of the Stanton letters, hereafter quoted were written, was one

of the men who presented the negative argument of the above question.

24 "Stanton at Kenyon," The Kenyon Collegian (Stanton Number), XXXII, No.

14 (May 1906), 158.

• 9
 

242     Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly

served. A temporary secretary has added a signature for Stanton

to the minutes of this meeting of August 31, 1832. In November

Stanton was voted the impressive vellum diploma of the society,

which must have graced his room in Columbus shortly thereafter.

Stanton is known to have been an omnivorous reader to the

detriment of his success as a clerk in the book shop in Steubenville,

for Mr. Turnbull is reputed by his son-in-law to have been somewhat

annoyed by Stanton's neglect of customers because of his absorption

in a book. "He consumed every book in the store."²⁵ He undoubtedly

left his personal books to the Philomathesian Society library upon

taking up business in Columbus. The Catalogue of the Library, and

Names of Members of the Philomathesian Society of Kenyon College

from Its Formation in 1827 to 1840 (Gambier, 1840) lists him as a

donor of four titles, but strangely enough does not list him as a

member. This is only in part corrected in the 1853 catalog, which

makes two errors in listing him as "Edward M. Stanton, of Steuben-

ville; not heard from; was a member of College about 1830; left

before graduating."²⁶ Still in use in the college library are the

former Philomathesian library copies of the British Classics edition

(New York, 1809) of The Spectator in ten volumes and Hale's

History of the United States (New York, 1827), with his signature

as well; as "Edwin M. Stanton, No.______" on each title page.

At the end of his sophomore year in September 1832 Stanton

left Gambier to return again only as a visitor. He was bitterly

disappointed not to have been able to complete his course in the

college which Bishop Chase had romantically termed "the Star in

the West."²⁷ From Steubenville Stanton went to Columbus in mid-

October to take charge of a branch book shop and stationery store

for Mr. Turnbull, in whose Steubenville book shop he had spent

three years before college. His next year, that of the great cholera

epidemic in the western states, was spent in Columbus. There he

25 Flower, E. M. Stanton, 23-24.

26Neff, Philomathesian History, 50.

27 Philander Chase, The Star in the West, or Kenyon College, in . . . 1828

(Columbus [?], 1828), in which Bishop Chase relates his disappointment in the

house postponement of a bill passed by the United States Senate March 28, 1828,

granting a township of free land to Kenyon for private sale. He turned this pamphlet

into an appeal to the country at large for each reader to send a contribution of one

dollar to the college. This enterprise, which may have been one of the first mail

campaigns in America, was fairly successful in bringing funds to Kenyon.

• 10
 

Edwin M. Stanton at Kenyon               243

attended sessions of the state legislature and made Trinity Episcopal

Church his place of worship. The Rev. William Preston, then a

trustee of Kenyon and rector of Trinity, undoubtedly took Stanton

under his wing. Stanton fell in love with Mary A. Lamson, an

orphan, who was living with her brother-in-law, the Rev. Mr.

Preston, during this year. Mary's father, the late William K. Lamson

of Columbus, had been head clerk in the Gambier college store,

and it is probable that Stanton first met Mary in Gambier. They soon

became engaged, but the couple waited to marry until Stanton

completed his law studies. They were married by the Rev. William

Preston in his house at Columbus on December 31, 1836. Stanton

began the study of law in Steubenville with his guardian, Daniel L.

Collier, in January 1834. He passed his examinations in 1835 but

being under age was not formally admitted to the bar until 1836,

when he commenced practice at Cadiz, Ohio. After a term as

prosecuting attorney of Harrison County, he returned to Steuben-

ville to become a partner of Judge Benjamin Tappan in 1839.

The following letters written by Stanton, with two exceptions,

are now in the manuscript collection of the Kenyon College Library.

They were presented to the library by Gilbert S. McClintock, a

grandson of Andrew T. McClintock, to whom the letters are

addressed. A. T. McClintock, later a prominent lawyer of Wilkes-

Barre, attended Kenyon for three years from 1831 to 1834.

McClintock remained one more year at Kenyon than did Stanton,

and it is chiefly during this period that Stanton wrote for news of

the college. The originals of the two letters to Stanton's guardian,

D. L. Collier, are in the possession of Gideon T. Stanton of New

Orleans, E. M. Stanton's grandson, who has graciously given per-

mission to publish all the letters below.

Gambier July 21st 1832

Mr. Alexander J. Beatty²⁸

Steubenville, Ohio

Dear Friend

Your letter of June 28th was duly rec'd, but contrary to my usual custom

I have delayed answering it: yet as I am generally punctual, you will of

28 Probably a fellow clerk in Turnbull's Steubenville book shop. See letter of

September 14, 1833, below.

• 11
 

244      Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly

course grant pardon for this single neglect. The fact is, between ill health

and hard studies, not to mention a little--of----ahem, I have scarce

breathing time.

I am really very sorry that you have determined to withdraw from the

contest with Wilson, for Maria. There may be some little selfishness, in

my sorrow, for though I disclaim anything like particular feelings in that

quarter, yet I was certainly very much pleased, and would rather see her

in the possession of one of my friends, than such a paste-tub as Wilson.

I am in chase of a petticoat,²⁹ what success I may have, God only knows-

but if I fail, it shall not be from want of exertion on my part.

I went to see her, a few evenings since, and enjoyed myself so well, that

I took no note of time. About one o'clock I started for the college which

was three miles from the girl's house--but fortune which had hitherto been

favorable, deserted me-I lost my way, and after tramping all around the

country, periling my neck in divers ways, reached home about four in the

morning, cold, wet, and tired. The cold, and fatigue, threw me into a fever,

which confined me several days. So much for love-rather expensive, don't

you think so?

We spent our fourth,³⁰ much to my satisfaction, though we had no valiant

guard to parade the hill, shewing their "thews and sinews," and choking

themselves with dust, for our amusement. Your "admirable corps," doubt-

less played the devil with the Wheeling ladies, and made themselves "very

sufficiently" ridiculous, by traveling so far for an exhibition not of their

strength but weakness.

They had a splendid celebration, I am told at Mt. Vernon,-no less

than three orations (all stolen from the Columbian orator³¹) a dinner and

a ball, beside which, every man, woman and child were drunk as a fidler's

[sic] bitch.

Our Faculty, through fear of Cholera, have prohibited bathing, and

almost everything else but studying-would to God they may prohibit that

shortly.

Miss Story, and Eliza Osborne are married it seems, they had better

be so than wait until the Cholera comes. "They may marry and be given

in marriage but the flood will come" says Bishop Chase and the ladies

29 This might be one of the daughters of Archibald Douglass of Gambier, a

Scotchman, then superintendent of the general business affairs on the college domain.

Dyer, Records of an Active Life, 76.

30 Commemorated in Gambier by a meeting of the Colonization Society. "After

divine service, an interesting address was delivered by Professor J. Kendrick. The

Report of the Managers was read by Mr. H. Dyer, the Secretary. The funds in the

Treasury amounted to $39.00, and a considerable number of new subscribers were

obtained." Gambier Observer, July 6, 1832.

31 Caleb Bingham, The Columbian Orator . . . (Boston, 1797). This book of

strongly patriotic and deeply religious selections made by a pioneer textbook writer

was frequently reprinted. It was the best-known book of its kind for a quarter of a

century and was especially popular in district schools.

• 12
 

Edwin M. Stanton at Kenyon                     245

had better kick the bucket, married women, than maids, for having ex-

perienced both conditions in this world, the'll [sic] know which to choose

when "born again" in the next.

You will please write soon, and inform me how the fourth was spent

in Steub, whether you had an oration and dinner, who prepared the one,

and delivered the other. If the oration is printed please send me a copy.

Scott32 is well, he and I are still rooming together, he sends you his

respects.

I must bid you good-bye ever praying that "perfect tranquillity may be

the general tenor of your life, that you may have good digestions[,]

serene weather" and whatever else Heaven may please to bestow.

Yours affectionately

Edwin M. Stanton

P.S.

My respects to Maria.

EMS

 

Kenyon College Aug 18th, 1832

D. L. Collier Esq.

Steubenville, Ohio

Dear Sir

Knowing that your attention was constantly occupied by your business,

I was unwilling to trouble you unless absolutely necessary, and have there-

fore delayed writing until now.

The session has passed thus far very pleasantly, but will close on the

fifth of next month when I shall want some money to pay my bills, and

defray my expenses home.

If it is your intention that I should continue here another session, I

might perhaps remain during vacation.³³ But I think there would be no

advantage in so doing, as my boarding would cost the same as in "term

time" & the Professors not remaining on the hill I should be perfectly idle.

Besides, the college library would be closed, and the students all gone.

My bills have been nearly the same this, as in former sessions, to settle

which, with about ten dollars to bear my expenses home, will be all the

funds necessary.

Should there be any probability of my not continuing another session,

please let me know in order that I may make the necessary arrangements.

Yours most respectfully

Edwin M. Stanton

32 William B. Scott of Wilkes-Barre, a sophomore and Philomathesian member.

33 Vacation extended for eight weeks after commencement, the first Wednesday of

September.

• 13
 

246      Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly

Steubenville Oct. 10th, 1832

[Notation on cover: "E.M. Stanton,

answered, Oct 16, 1832"]

Mr. Andrew T. McClintock

Kenyon College

Gambier, Ohio

Dear McClintock

I reached home Wednesday about two o'clock, after one of the most

fatiguing, wet, disagreeable, and altogether damnable rides, that ever poor

fellow had. I never expect to pay, the debt of gratitude I owe you, for

accompanying me to Millersburg;³⁴ but if I should have the good luck

to be an influential member of the Court above, you may depend upon

my efforts for your salvation.

My hopes of returning to Gambier, were very sanguine when I reached

home; especially as I know I could obtain money on loan, for the mere

asking, which in fact I did; but I found it so difficult to wring a release³⁵

from Turnbull, and even when he had granted a churlish assent, my well

beloved guardian made such a violent opposition, that I abandoned all

hopes,--renewed my engagement, and shall set out next Monday for

Columbus.³⁶

This I consider an absolute sacrifice of myself[:] soul, and body,--an

utter destruction, of all hopes and expectation, which I one [sic] cherished,

for it has probably not escaped your observation, that I had some "dreams

of future greatness"--but they are gone,--dispersed, vanished, like the

"baseless fabric of a vision." I shall henceforth be regardless of life, fortune,

character, everything, and shall continue to live on, from day, to day,

objectless, hopeless, without end to be reached, or design to be accomplished,

--being litterally [sic] "nipt in the bud" I shall go on cursing and being

cursed.

The fact is McClintock I believe in the maxim that says a short life

and a merry one is the better. In consequence of which belief, I have com-

menced drinking, rowing and swearing, and am rapidly approaching the

"kingdom to come," at least as rapidly as such a course of life, will admit.

Yesterday was our election day, but it went off altogether too quietly

without fight, or quarrel-a curse upon such tameness of the "sovreign

[sic]  people"! Part of the Clay, & part of the Jackson³⁷ ticket, carrier

so that the result was not decisive of the strength of either party. I wonde

34 Forty miles northeast of Gambier en route to Steubenville.

35 From his contract to work with Turnbull, who had temporarily allowed him the

freedom to go to Kenyon.

36 To take charge of the Columbus branch of Turnbull's book store and stationer??

shop. He received $250 per year and the privilege of sleeping in the store.

37 The national election in which Jackson was reelected. Final results must has

pleased Stanton, for it was at Kenyon that he "went over to Jackson."

• 14
 

Edwin M. Stanton at Kenyon                      247

how the Revd. Thos. Rigdan came out? I want you to write me immediately

at Columbus so that I may receive your letter on my arrival! The trunk

you need not forward, until you hear from me again. Give my love to

John Blackburn,^38--my respects to Dyer & wife,39 and my curse to Phelps

Hoey⁴⁰ & Co.

You must excuse any incoherency in this my epistle as I was up all

night and engaged in what has very little tendency to arrange one's thoughts.

But dear McC I am your most humble friend.

Edwin Stanton

 

Columbus Nov 2d 1832

[Notation on cover:

"Kindness of Mr. Matthews"]41

Andrew T. McClintock

Kenyon College

Ohio

Dearly Beloved

My trunk, thanks to your kindness, reached here last evening, as also

what was more welcome,-your note.

I have now been in Columbus two weeks, and during that time became

[sic] somewhat acquainted with the good folks, "what" dwell therein.

Taking all things into consideration, I like the place pretty well. It

affords advantages for forming acquaintances among the great men of the

day,-of becoming acquainted with the proper method of doing business;

learning how to cheat, and avoid being cheated, besides the various usages

of the world.

So your perceive my dear friend, that there is every facility for becoming

"quite, a clever sweet, accomplished villian [sic]."

The business done here, though trifling or even contemptible in com-

parison with some places, appears immense, to one who has dwelt any

length of time at Kenyon, and whose habits are so steady & feelings so

quiet, as mine.

The young society,⁴² is large, though not exactly to my taste. The majority

of the young men, are impudent, ignorant self sufficient counter-jumpers-

a class peculiarly obnoxious to me.

The females form rather a more respectable body, those with whom I

38 John Blackburn of Cincinnati, a junior.

39 Heman Dyer, principal of the grammar school, married Almira Douglass of

Gambler September 12, 1832. Gambier Observer, September 28, 1832.

40 Edward M. Phelps of Woodbury, Connecticut, a senior and Philomathesian

member. William A. Hoey of Dublin, Ireland, a junior and Philomathesian member.

41 Dorance Matthews of Columbus, a sophomore.

42 Compare the famous opinion of Cincinnati society of these years held by Mrs.

Trollope. Domestic Manners of the Americans (New York, 1832).

• 15
 

248       Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly

have become acquainted, appear modest sensible & well informed, though

by no means remarkeable [sic] for personal charms. You can readily imagine

with which I shall principally associate.

My situation is very pleasant, I have a great deal of time for reading, and

board in a family43 with which I am highly pleased.

The Old folks, are intelligent, hospitable, kind and in short just such folks

as you would like. Their daughters--they have four--though not handsome

are very agreeable.

You have doubtless heard Minor⁴⁴ speak of a Miss Kelley, in high terms

of commendation, I have become slightly acquainted with her, and found

she was all he described her.

I was at a party, the other evening at Espy's, a relation of Woods⁴⁵ to

whom indeed I was indebted for the invitation. I enjoyed myself pretty

well, but was somewhat disgusted with the affectation of the ladies, and

bored by the dullness of the men. By the way, at those small parties you

will discover the true characters of the individuals who compose them.

I shall go to Kenyon the moment I learn of the arrival of Sparrow &

Clarke or either.46

The enclosed note, you will hand Clarke immediately on his arrival.

Write soon.

Yours affectionately,

E. M. Stanton.

P. S. Give my love to Blackburn.--should Woods say any thing about the

party tell him I was charmed with it. My respects to Mrs. Smith

Mrs. Kendrick do Denison do Fitch.⁴⁷

Stanton

43 That of Dr. Howard, a "steam doctor," whose daughter Anna died of a very

sudden attack of cholera at the turn of the year. Stricken at 2 P.M. she was buried

before Stanton's return that evening. It is reported that Stanton engaged the help of

two friends and proceeded to dig up her grave to make certain that she was not

alive. This act was recognized and commented upon at the time as showing heroic

courage and was evidently in line with his good reputation in Columbus. Flower,

E. M. Stanton, 30.

44 Possibly John L. Minor of Columbus, Kenyon 1832.

45 Henry Woods of Columbus, a freshman (earlier a grammar school student).

46 Thomas Sparrow of Gambier, then in the grammar school. His older brother,

William Sparrow, a professor of divinity, was acting president of Kenyon from

Bishop Chase's departure in September 1831 until Bishop McIlvaine took up residence

in July 1833.

Robert D. Clarke of Brownsville, Pennsylvania, a sophomore.

47 Professor John Kendrick (philosophy), the Rev. George Denison (mathematics),

and the Rev. Chauncey W. Fitch (language) had all been married during this last

(September-October) vacation period. That three of the six men of the faculty

seized this first opportunity after the Chases departed is probably a tribute to Mrs.

Philander Chase, who was known as a very domineering person. The faculty was

notoriously ill-paid in Bishop Chase's time, so bachelor status may have been the

result of family collusion. Professor Sparrow had previously married Mrs. Chase's

sister, who was presumably acceptable. The three newly married professors upon

petition were given increases in salary by the trustees at this time.

• 16
 

Edwin M. Stanton at Kenyon                   249

Columbus Sept 14th 1833

D. L. Collier Esq

Steubenville, Ohio

Dear Sir

As my engagement with Mr. Turnbull has nearly expired, and I have made

no new arrangements, I should be pleased to know in what manner you

think I can best dispose of myself for this next year. I have always, as you

are aware, been looking to a Profession for my future support, & the Law,

has had my preference. Previous to commencing the study, however, I should

--with your approval--like to spend another year at Kenyon. But it is not

only impossible for me to do so now, but I am not able, even to commence

the study of a Profession. The salary which I receive, is so inadequate,

that what shall remain over my expenses, will be next to nothing.

The idea was held out, when I engaged with Mr. Turnbull, that my

compensation was greater than that recd by Beatty,48 and Mr. Turnbull,

was well aware, that my expenses must not only be much greater than

Beattys, but as the whole charge of the store devolved upon me, my duties

would be more arduous. Yet Beatty receives $250 beside $36 for extra

services. From this, I think that the advantage of me has unfairly been

taken. But as I've formed acquaintances here, & the situation is in some

respects pleasant, if Mr. Turnbull will make any thing like an equitable

bargain, I am willing to remain another year. You will however please

make what arrangements you think best, you are in all these things the

best judge, & to your opinion I shall of course gladly submit.

About four weeks since, I had an attack, of what is here called, malignant

fever. I had the night previous sat up at Mr. Howards. It commenced with

diarrhea, which continued with cramps of feet, legs, & hands, for about

six hours. I am now able to attend to business, but my health is far from

being restored.

By a letter from my sister, I learned that the house⁴⁹ had been sold.

I know not what arrangement was made with regard to Mother, but hope

that she will not be compelled to leave until another house shall have been

procured, nor in any other wise put to inconvenience by the sale. If it is

not too much trouble, I should like you would see Mr. Turnbull, & make

immediately arrangements as to my remaining. I wrote to him a short

time since; you will please ask him whether he recd the letter as I've

had no reply.

Yrs.

E. M. Stanton

48 Probably Alexander J. Beatty, to whom the first letter in this series is addressed.

49 The house was sold October 31, 1833, and Mrs. Stanton went to visit relatives

in Virginia. J. B. Doyle, In Memoriam, Edwin McMasters Stanton (Steubenville,

1911), 21.

• 17
 

250      Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly

Columbus Sept 27th 1833

[Notation on cover: "E. M.

Stanton ansd. Oct. 17, 1833"]

Mitchell⁵⁰ & McClintock

Gambier, Ohio

Dearly Beloved:

I have delayed answering your kind & sympathising [sic] epistle until

I should be able to give you more cheering information, than in my last.

This, in some respects, I can now do. No case of Cholera has occurred

since Saturday; the presumption is, that it has now left us. Business is

improving, and the town has assumed a much better appearance. John L.⁵¹

was recovering, but through imprudence had a relapse, so that, even now,

he is barely able to move about his room. His family are in a very afflicted

condition. Secretary Kirby⁵² (his brother-in-law) has been very ill for some

time, and since Sunday his recovery has been looked upon as extremely

doubtful. I have been busily engaged, ever since my return, in attendance

upon John & Kirby, and am now most thoroughly jaded. I watched all

last night with Kirby & left him this morning somewhat better,--though

not materially so.

My own health has been good, saving that I had nearly died a week

since in a debauch, but through the vigorous exertions of my friends, escaped

with a slight fit. The following night, I was attacked with very alarming

symptoms--of Cholera; from     that also I escaped, by strong and timely

measures. From these circumstances, I have been induced to "forswear

sack and live cleanly"--for the present.

Soon after my return from Kenyon, I wrote Mr. Collier; informing

him of my desires and feelings. The sum and substance of his reply was:--

"remain where you are." For this I was in some sort prepared and had taken

measures for acting independantly [sic] of my much loved guardian, but

the death of Judge Campbell⁵³ has entirely disconcerted my plans. Thus you

see my dear friends, that with me, "the time is out of joint"; I am never-

theless content,--and have merely to say with Sir Walter, "time and I

against any two."54

Yrs truly

Edwin Stanton

50 Probably Joseph Mitchell of Steubenville, a freshman (earlier a grammar school

student).

51 Probably John L. Minor of Columbus, who had graduated from Kenyon in 1832.

See note 44 above.

52 Moses H. Kirby was the secretary of state of Ohio, 1831-33.

53 John Wilson Campbell was a judge of the United States Court for the District

of Ohio from 1829 until his death in Delaware, Ohio, September 24, 1833. A former

prosecuting attorney, he had been a member of the state house of representatives in

1810, 1813, and 1815, and a congressional representative (Democratic) from 1817 to

1827.

54 Variously attributed: Charles V of France (c. 1380); a Spanish proverb,

Arbuthnot (1712).

• 18
 

Edwin M. Stanton at Kenyon                        251

Steubenville Jan 30 183355

[Notation on cover:

"E. M. Stanton answd"]

Mr. Andrew T. McClintock

Kenyon College

Gambler, Ohio

Friend McClintock:

Time and again I've determined to write you but circumstances have

hitherto prevented my so doing.

Last November, I left Columbus and returned home; after knocking about

for a month or six weeks doing nothing, I set me down to read Law. My

desire was to study at Columbus, and I strained every nerve to accomplish

that object. I failed, and thank God for it. It was put into my head, that

to read with Swan,⁵⁶ or Judge Tappan⁵⁷ (who expected to leave here) would

be much to my advantage; and having fallen desperately in love with a young

lady of Columbus58 I thought my whole future success, nay my very existence

depended on my going there. My guardian was wiser than I: so here my

term of probation will be passed.

Both Swan and Tappan it is true are more eminent than our Lawyers.

But their very eminence would be an objection; for they are old and in-

dependent, and would have but little time or attention to bestow on their

students. While our lawyers on the contrary feel their reputation or at least

their interest concerned in the improvement of their ["students" erased]

pupils. Steubenville besides, has other great advantages for Law Students.

The Bar ('tho Goodenow and Wright⁵⁹ have left it) is still respectable.

Living is cheaper than in any other town of its size in the whole Western

Country. A great many young men have already studied here, so that a

regular system of instruction has been adopted. There are now five persons

studying--one of whom is Cummings who used to room with Dav Davis.⁶⁰

55 This is obviously misdated. McClintock's copy of his answer to this letter,

mentioning "your letter of Jany 30th" and replying that the Philomathesian Society

was flourishing "tho not under the 'fostering care,' as you suppose, of Doct. Davis,"

is dated "Kenyon College Apl. 12, 1834."

56 Judge Joseph R. Swan of Columbus, a circuit judge.

57 Judge Benjamin Tappan of Steubenville, United States District Judge of Ohio

in 1833. Stanton formed a partnership with him in Steubenville in October 1838 just

before Tappan's election on the Democratic ticket to the United States Senate, where

he served from 1839 to 1845.

58 Mary A. Lamson, whom he married.

59 John Milton Goodenow, a Steubenville lawyer, resigned because of ill health

from the supreme court of Ohio in 1830. He moved to Cincinnati in 1832, where

he was presiding judge of the court of common pleas in 1833.

John Crafts Wright, a Steubenville lawyer, served in the Ohio Supreme Court

from 1831 to 1835, when he moved to Cincinnati.

60 John D. Cummings of Indiana County, Pennsylvania, an irregular student

at Kenyon, 1831-32.

David Davis of Newark, Delaware, graduated from Kenyon in 1832. Leader of the

Lincoln forces at the Chicago convention of 1860, he was Lincoln's appointee to the

supreme court (1862-77) and the family's choice as administrator of Lincoln's estate.

• 19
 

252      Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly

We have a "Lyceum" that meets every Saturday night. The exercises are

Lectures on Chemistry and other branches of science, Literature & History

with regular debates. Every Monday evening the "Atheneum" meets. The

principal object of this society is debate--in connection with it is a reading

room and library. Tuesday and Friday evenings we have law examinations.

And it is probable next month we will establish a Moot Court, (a sort of

sham court of justice conducted on the principle of regular courts) in

which law points and supposed cases will be argued. One of our Lawyers

has the best library west of the mountains which is free to every student.

My own dearly beloved guardian is admitted to be the most systematic and

business [sic] lawyer in the state. He is now at Washington City attending

a case in which he has been retained.

Now not more than one fifth of these advantages could possibly be had

in Columbus, and that attended with three times the expense. Then my dear

Mc you will congratulate me on having had others to think for me instead

of being left to my own whims and fancies.

Did I not know your intention of returning to study your profession in

Pennsylvania I would urge upon you the propriety of coming here. I have

been in every principal town in the state, and have conversed with many

well acquainted with the subject, and their opinions confirm my own ob-

servation, that no place in the West holds out half so many inducements

to the student at law.

It has been a long while since I heard from Gambier--but saving yourself

and one or two others it has now no longer any interest for me. You, I

suppose, are pursuing the "even tenor of your way"; in other words studying

like the devil. The Philomathesian under the "fostering care and benign in-

fluence" of Doctor Davis,⁶¹ is doubtless flourishing. The Doctor himself,

no doubt, already carries "fate and physic in his eye" and looks ardently

forward to the time when he shall go forth in his might, armed and equipped

with puke and clyster.62

61 Edwin H. Davis of Hillsboro, Ohio, in college 1831-34, where he was also

known as "Ned, the Mound Digger." A graduate of Cincinnati Medical College in

1837 or 1838, he practiced in Chillicothe, Ohio, from 1838 to 1850 and then taught

at the New York Medical College until 1860. He was the author with E. G. Squier

of the first of the Smithsonian Institution's Contributions to Knowledge, Ancient

Monuments of the Mississippi Valley (Washington, 1847). The Kenyon College

Library owns a handsomely bound copy of this folio containing a gold-tooled leather

presentation label inscribed "Philomathesian Society from E. H. Davis." This work

is still of summary value to American archaeologists because of its accurate surveys

and descriptions of mounds now long plowed under. A Swiss archaeologist, A.

Morlot, in the American Philosophical Society Proceedings for 1862 (No. 68, p. 111),

declared it to be as "glorious a monument of American Science, as Bunker's Hill

is of American bravery."

The oration Davis delivered on "The Antiquities of Ohio" at the Kenyon Commence-

ment, September 4, 1833, interested Daniel Webster, then traveling in the area, and

his encouragement stimulated Davis in his determination to continue these researches.

Dictionary of American Biography.

62 Vomit and enema.

• 20
 

Edwin M. Stanton at Kenyon                 253

How are all the folks? Dyer and his wife? Kendrick and ditto? You will

write to me my dear Mc and tell me all about yourself your past deeds

your future plans and prospects; and believe me ever my dear friend.

Yours most affectionately

Edwin M. Stanton

Many of Stanton's friends and associates in later life were Kenyon

men. He is quoted, certainly not exactly, as having said more than

once, "If I am anything I owe it to Gambier College."⁶³ His son,

Edwin Lamson Stanton, was valedictorian of the class of 1863 at

Kenyon and was said to have graduated with the highest honors

in the history of the college. After graduation E. L. Stanton and

George T. Chapman, a Kenyon graduate and professor (1860-63),

went into the war department as secretaries. Earlier Secretary

Stanton had appointed his sister Pamphyla's husband, Christopher

P. Wolcott of Akron, first assistant secretary of war. Wolcott, a

Kenyon man, worked himself to death⁶⁴ in this office, which he

served but a half year from July 1, 1862, to January 1, 1863.

During the war years, to rest from his grueling daily schedule, the

secretary in laxer times came to the quiet of Gambier. Here he

visited his widowed sister, Mrs. C. P. Wolcott, so unobtrusively

that the neighbors did not know of his presence.65 When his two

nephews, Darwin Stanton Wolcott and W. Merwin Wolcott, were

in college after the war, Stanton attended a Philomathesian Society

meeting and spoke most affectionately of the college and of his

college days and companions.

Kenyon in 1866, then granting honorary degrees in absentia,

voted the degree of Doctor of Laws upon this distinguished son

whose name led all Kenyon honor rolls of men serving their

country. The following gracious letter is preserved in the library

files:

War Department

Washington City

July 23, 1866

63 Doyle, E. M. Stanton, 20.

64 Professor P. W. Timberlake of the present Kenyon College faculty, who as a

youth attended his great aunt Pamphyla's funeral, has kindly supplied this family

legend. See also, Flower, E. M. Stanton, 20, 367.

65 W. B. Bodine, The Kenyon Book (Columbus, 1890), 286.

• 21
 

254     Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly

Charles Short, Esq.

President of Kenyon College

Sir

I have the pleasure to acknowledge your favor, informing me that the

faculty of Kenyon College has conferred upon me the Honorary Degree of

Doctor of Laws.

Nothing could be more grateful to my feelings than to receive such a

token of respect and distinction from the Institution of Learning, from

which the most valuable part of my education was received, and which,

appreciated with the happy remembrances of youth, has always been the

object of my respect and veneration.

I pray you to communicate to the Faculty and accept for yourself my

sincere thanks.

Your Obedient Servant,

Edwin M. Stanton

Two other communications preserved in the college archives

came from Stanton and are entirely in his hand. One, dated Sep.

tember 4, 1866, is to President Short presenting to the library copies

of the Annual Report of the Secretary of War for the years 1861-65.

These, still an integral part of the library collection, together with

the report for 1860 are beautifully bound in six volumes in green

morocco with elaborate gold tooling. The final letter, dated March

11, 1868, in the midst of Johnson's impeachment trial, says that he

finds it will be impossible to address the alumni of Kenyon College

"by reason of indispensable engagements" and closes by wishing

prosperity to the institution.

Andrew Carnegie in this century has perpetuated Stanton's re-

lationship to Kenyon. In 1906 Carnegie presented $25,000 for the

Carnegie Scholarship Fund, the income to be used "to enable such

students as Stanton to continue their studies. He was compelled to

leave before graduating for lack of means. This fund is to enable

the College to provide what may be needed for exceptional students

under similar conditions."⁶⁶ Carnegie related his pleasure as a

young telegraph messenger boy in Pittsburgh in receiving a nod of

 

66 Andrew Carnegie to President Peirce, May 11, 1906. Treasurer's Office, Kenyon

College.

• 22
 

Edwin M. Stanton at Kenyon               255

recognition from Stanton, whom he saw frequently.67 Subsequently

Carnegie went to Washington as right-hand man to Thomas A. Scott

of the Pennsylvania Railroad, who was assistant secretary of war in

charge of military transportation.

Carnegie had earlier expressed his admiration for Stanton to

Kenyon by a gift of $50,000 in 1904 to endow "The Edwin M.

Stanton Professorship of Economics." This came to the college

through the offices of the late Senator Mark Hanna, who himself

had erected a dormitory at Kenyon, accompanied by a letter of

explanation from Carnegie's private secretary as follows: "When

Secretary Stanton, as Secretary of War in Lincoln's Cabinet, or-

ganized victory, Mr. Carnegie was assistant manager of all Govern-

ment Railroads and Telegraphs for some time at the beginning of

the War, and had known Secretary Stanton in Pittsburgh and saw

a great deal of him at Washington."⁶⁸

The festivities at Gambier on April 26, 1906, were overwhelming

when Carnegie came to deliver an oration on the life of Stanton.

A special train came from Cleveland in addition to Carnegie's. Mr.

Carnegie's own party included Richard Watson Gilder, editor of the

Century Magazine, and Col. J. J. McCook, Kenyon 1866, who con-

cluded the public ceremonies by presenting the college with an oil

painting of Stanton by C. P. Filson of Steubenville that now hangs

in the college library. Three bishops assisted at the ceremonies,

which were also attended by Lt. Edwin M. Stanton, grandson of

the famous secretary. There was a special "Stanton Ode" composed

by Canon Watson, a "Carnegie Yell" by the assembled students,

and a glee club rendition of the prowess of the attending celebrities

sung to "The Pope." An inspection tour preceded the main cere-

monies in Rosse Hall, a reception by Bishop and Mrs. Leonard was

held directly thereafter, and then invited guests returned to Rosse

Hall, where banquet tables, decorated with small silk American and

Scotch flags, had been prepared. Toasts and speeches from all dis-

 

67 Andrew Carnegie, Edwin M. Stanton, An Address . . . on Stanton Memorial Day

at Kenyon College (New York, 1906), 5

68 James Bartram to President Peirce, March 14, 1904. Treasurer's Office, Kenyon

College.

• 23
 

256     Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly

tinguished guests plus glee club selections managed to extend the

banquet from 3:00 P.M. to 5:30, when Carnegie entrained for

Canada.⁶⁹ Carnegie's own speech reviewed Stanton's career and

lauded his stand for the Union, placing his services to "rank in

value with those of the foremost early fathers: Franklin, Hamilton,

Adams, Jefferson, Jackson and Lincoln. No lower place can be

assigned him than in that circle. Washington must ever stand alone

-father among these worthy sons."⁷⁰

60 The Kenyon Collegian (Stanton Number), XXXII, No. 14 (May 1906).

70 Carnegie, E. M. Stanton, 7.

• 24