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Preface
HIs history of Dartmouth College was undertaken at the request of President Hopkins, and the work upon it has been carried out with the support of the trustees. The standard history of the college, begun by Mr. Frederick Chase and continued by Professor John K. Lord, is a monument of careful investigation and scholarly interpretation. It will remain the authority for those who are concerned with the intimate details of the rise and progress of the institution. It has been felt, nevertheless, that for the general reader, who is interested in the history of the college as a continuing story, that work, from the very nature of its plan, is somewhat overloaded with detail. A running account of the institution, written as a unit, sufficiently detailed to make for completeness, but not overburdened with particulars, may well have a place of its own. It was with the pur- pose of meeting that demand that this book was undertaken.
The story told in these volumes is based entirely upon contem- porary documents in the possession of the college. In recent years the institution has been remarkably fortunate in acquiring a great store of manuscripts relating to its early years. The complaint of Professor Sanborn in 1870, that he could find in Hanover almost nothing relating to the early history of the institution, can no longer justly be made. The great collection of the manuscripts of Eleazar Wheelock, carefully preserved by his descendants and now re- turned to the place of their origin, sheds a clearer light upon the early years of the institution than can be obtained concerning any subsequent period of its history. That material is supplemented by the papers of Nathaniel Whitaker, of David McClure, of Judge Richard Fletcher, and of the Webster collection of Mr. Edwin W. Sanborn; by the store of manuscripts collected by Mr. Frederick Chase, and by many other records. From these documents, not only
can the story of the material affairs of the institution be traced in detail, but its inner life may be reproduced with some confidence in the accuracy of the picture. In fact, the chief difficulty is not in the adequacy of the source material, but in the selection from it of those topics of greatest significance.
Curiously enough, it is in the later periods of the life of the col- lege that the greatest difficulty was found in securing information from contemporary sources. However, persistent search in the dusty accumulations of the treasurer’s office brought to light a store of material concerning the administration of President Lord, which seems not to have been much used by previous historians. Through the kindness of Dr. Morris K. Smith the correspondence of his grandfather, President Asa D. Smith, was made available; a collection of over ten thousand letters which give an intimate pic- ture of the college during that period. Mrs. Charlotte Tucker has also permitted the inspection of numerous papers of her husband, President William J. Tucker. Additional light upon more recent periods has been afforded by the voluminous correspondence of Mr. Frank S. Streeter, for so long a trustee. Although documen- tary material relating to the administration of President Bartlett is rather less abundant than might be desired, enough has been discovered to give the story of that period an adequate basis of con- temporary evidence.
The helpfulness of many has contributed to whatever may be of value in this work. The admirable facilities of the Baker Library have been placed freely at the disposal of the writer. Particular thanks are due to Miss Mildred Saunders, in charge of the college archives, for her painstaking assistance. Similar helpfulness was displayed by the treasurer and his assistants, especially by Mr. Earl C. Gordon, who devoted much time to the search for information particularly desired by the writer. Portions of the manuscript have been read by Professor James D. MacCallum and by Professor Ed- win J. Bartlett, each of whom has made suggestions of value. ‘To these persons, to those mentioned above who have made documen- tary material available, and to many others who have contributed in various ways, the writer wishes to make his most sincere acknow]- edgments. LBR.
April, 1931
Contents of Volume I
CHAPTER I. PAGE 13
Eleazar Wheelock and His Indian School
CHAPTER II. PAGE 49
The School Becomes a College
CHAPTER III. PAGE 91
The College Is Launched
CHAPTER IV. PAGE 147
Wheelock’s Last Years
CHAPTER V. PAGE 195
The College Becomes of Age
CHAPTER VI. PAGE 239
The Inner Life of the College
CHAPTER VII. PAGE 287
Storm and Stress
CHAPTER VIII. PAGE 347
Depression and Recovery
CHAPTER IX. PAGE 387
Nathan Lord. The Material Affairs of the College
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CHAPTER I
Eleazar Wheelock and His Indian School
HAT an individual clergyman, without wealth or connex-
ions with the rich or great, settled in a small and obscure
parish, in a country where at that time few or none were
rich, that he should by his own exertions raise an institu- tion which has commanded the notice and charities of all orders of men in Europe and America from the menial servant to the power- ful monarch on the throne, and finally found a flourishing Univer- sity, laying a basis for endowments by which it has become exten- sively useful, and promises to be an eminent blessing to future generations, is an impressive example in the history of the world of what one man of persevering zeal may accomplish.
Thus wrote David McClure in the first decade of the nineteenth century. Ihe language may strike us as stilted, but to the truth con- veyed by it no exceptions can be taken. Of the pre-revolutionary colleges in America, Dartmouth is the solitary example of an insti- tution Owing its existence to the vision, energy, and untiring effort of a single individual. The story of the college in its early years is, then, the story of Eleazar Wheelock.
Among the graduates of Cambridge in 1626 was Ralph Whee- lock, a native of Shropshire, who became, according to the state- ments made of him, “an eminent nonconformist divine.’ His eminence must have been acquired with some rapidity, for in 1637 he left the scene of his labors and came to Massachusetts, receiving a grant of land in the town of Dedham. ‘The influx of clerical gen-
14 HISTORY OF DARTMOUTH COLLEGE
tlemen to New England (sixty graduates of Oxford and Cambridge came to Massachusetts between 1630 and 1634) was such, according to John Cotton, that “nothing is cheap in New England but milk and ministers.” Either because of this oversupply or because he preferred a different life, Wheelock never assumed a clerical charge. He was, however, a leading citizen of the community, a member of the first board of selectmen, active in the organization of the church, and master of what is said to have been the first free school in New England. Later, when a portion of Dedham was set apart as Med- field, he was selectman of the new town, member of the General Court, and teacher of the local school. He died in 1683, leaving nine children, one of whom was Capt. Eleazar Wheelock of Men- don, a commander of a corps of cavalry in the Indian wars, but in times of peace a recognized friend of the savages. ‘The latter's son, Ralph, was a prosperous farmer in Windham, Connecticut, deacon in the church, esteemed for his hospitality and piety, who married Ruth Huntington, and to whom was born on April 22, 1711, (O.S.) as his only male child a son whom he named Eleazar.
We know nothing of Wheelock’s early years. Reared on a Con- necticut farm, he undoubtedly had abundant opportunity to be- come fully versed with the “arts of husbandry’’, as he always termed them, so necessary to him through life as his principal means of support, and so important, in his opinion, to those reared under his charge in school and in college. At the age of sixteen he is said to have become converted and to have determined upon the ministry as the work of his life. The way was clear before him. A bequest from his grandfather provided for the expenses of his college educa- tion, and in 1729 he entered Yale; being ranked, according to the system then prevailing, based upon the social prominence of the family of the student, just below the middle of the class. Records of his college career are scant. The earliest letter written by him which has come down to us is dated December 1, 1733, just after his graduation. It isa ponderous and pious document, entirely devoted to the thesis that happiness is not to be sought in the affairs of this world, but only with reference to the hereafter; something of a revelation as to what was considered the proper subject matter and style of a communication between college student and father in
ELEAZAR WHEELOCK AND HIS INDIAN SCHOOL 15
those early days. That he took very seriously his mission in life, even then, is the testimony given many years later by President Stiles of Yale, who attributed his first religious impression as a boy to the hints and exhortations received from the Yale student when that student was a visitor at Stiles’ paternal home. Wheelock was a leading student of the classics, as is shown by the fact that to him and to his classmate, Benjamin Pomeroy, came the honor of being the first holders of the Berkeley Scholarships, a foundation estab- lished by the philosopher, Dean Berkeley; the oldest of the fixed foundations at Yale, and afterwards held by a long line of persons subsequently distinguished in various walks of life.
After graduation in 1733 Wheelock remained in New Haven, pursuing the study of theology. He was licensed to preach in 1734, and the next year, after declining a call toa church on Long Island, settled as minister of the second parish of Lebanon, Connecticut. In the same year he married Mrs. Sarah Maltby, widow of Capt. William Maltby of New Haven and daughter of the Reverend John Davenport of Stamford.
We find him, therefore, at the age of twenty-four settled in the work which he may well have assumed would be that of his life, and which, in reality, lasted for thirty-five years. Pastorates in colo- nial New England were likely to be of long duration, not entirely because of the spirit of harmony which existed between the minister and his flock, but because of the legal relationships which pre-
*'The family of Wheelock plays so considerable a part in the history of the col- lege as to be worthy of recapitulation. By her first husband Mrs. Wheelock had three children, two girls and a boy, John Maltby, whom Wheelock regarded as affectionately as he did his own offspring. ‘To the Wheelock pair were born six children; three of whom grew to adult years: viz. (1) Theodora, born in 1736, who married Col. Alex- ander Phelps of Hebron, and, after his death, Capt. John Young of Lisbon, N. H. She died in 1810. (2) Ruth, born in 1740, married Rev. Wm. Patten of Hartford, Conn. and died in 1831. (3) Ralph or Radulphus, born in 1742, a graduate of Yale in 1765, died, unmarried, in Hanover in 1817. The first Mrs. Wheelock died in 1746, and the widower then married Mary Brinsmead of Milford, Conn. To them were born (1) Mary, born in 1748, who married Professor Bezaleel Woodward, and who died in Hanover in 1807. (2) Abigail, born in 1751, who married Professor Sylvanus Ripley, and who died in Fryeburg, Maine in 1818. (3) John, born in 1754, second presi- dent of Dartmouth, died in 1817. (4) Eleazar, born in 1756, a graduate of Dartmouth
in 1776, who died in 1811 at Boat Run, Ohio. (5) James, born in 1759, also a Dart- mouth graduate in the class of 1776, died in 1835 at Burlington, Vt.
16 HISTORY OF DARTMOUTH COLLEGE
vailed. Settlement was an elaborate process, involving extensive negotiation both on the material and ecclesiastical sides, the min- ister, once settled, had definite claims on his parish enforceable by law, and the breaking of the pastoral bond was a troublesome affair. As a result, in many cases long pastorates were due to an inertia which stood in the way of putting into action the cumbersome ma- chinery of separation, and were marked by constant wrangling, while even in the most satisfactory instances points of friction be- tween minister and congregation were likely to develop. ‘The rela- tion between Wheelock and his flock, while, in general, friendly, was not without its periods of ill-feeling.
At this time the town of Lebanon was in population the fifth in Connecticut, numbering in 1756, 3274 souls. It was distinguished for its leadership in colonial affairs. ‘The second parish embraced an outlying section of the township, five miles from the center, and was called Lebanon Crank. It was set off from the parent town in 1804 and is now known as Columbia. Here lived perhaps six hun- dred people, not in the most prosperous circumstances and not of the most generous dispositions, who were to be Wheelock’s charge for the next thirty-five years.
‘The terms of settlement were such as were common in pastoral relations of the day. ‘The minister was assigned twenty-five acres of land of his own and was given the salary of £140 (old tenor) a year, to be paid in public credit or in provisions. With the fluctuation prevailing in colonial currency, statements in terms of money meant very little, a condition which was met by the establishment in the agreement of definite rates for commodities such as wheat, rye, corn, pork and beef. With these rates as a basis, the salary was to rise and fall with the current prices of the articles; an anticipation of Professor Irving Fisher’s scheme of the flexible dollar. Wheelock was also given yearly thirty cords of wood. The arrangement was a source of constant friction. Wheelock regarded himself as imposed upon and tricked by certain practices to his disadvantage which could be justified, in his mind, only by a very lax interpretation of the agreement. Even that which was paid was received at times in- convenient to him and in commodities which were not acceptable, while in some cases it was not paid at all. In 1758 the controversy
ELEAZAR WHEELOCK AND HIS INDIAN SCHOOL ry
was submitted to the arbitration of three impartial persons. Greater stability of currency having by this time been established, the amount of the salary (aside from the wood) was fixed in terms of “lawful money” as £60.10 a year.1. ‘The decision was received by Wheelock with deep indignation. In truth, it was a very low com- pensation, even in comparison with other clerical stipends of the time, and of course entirely inadequate for his support.
With his establishment in Lebanon began the series of sermons, two on each Sabbath, which were to come from Wheelock in a steady stream almost to the day of his death. Three of them have come down to us in printed form, while among his papers the manu- scripts of many others survive. The latter, written in a crabbed, microscopic hand, so abbreviated as to give almost the aspect of shorthand, are decipherable only with the utmost difficulty. In his latter days his preaching was largely extemporaneous, the heads of the discourse, only, being noted on scraps of paper. Of the result, when translated and interpreted, it is difficult to form a fair judg- ment. The burning questions which seemed to Wheelock and his contemporaries to be of pressing importance are of little interest today; the theology of the time attracts only the antiquary; the rules of personal conduct are so forbidding as to lead one to wonder that even a Puritan congregation could have listened to them with pa- tience; the language is so involved and the reasoning of so curious a character as to repel rather than to attract. But, however we may regard them, there is no question that in his own time these produc- tions were viewed with deep seriousness. Moreover, as a clerical orator Wheelock was ranked among the leaders of his day. Ben- jamin Trumbull, the historian of Connecticut, says of him:
Wheelock was a gentleman of a comely figure, of a mild and win- ning aspect; his voice smooth and harmonious, the best, by far, I have ever heard. He had the entire command of it. His gesture was natural but not redundant. His preaching and addresses were close
*'The value of the pound “lawful money” in use in New England was $3.33. This will be the value understood for the pound in this book unless the specification “sterling” is appended.
18 HISTORY OF DARTMOUTH COLLEGE
and pungent and yet winning beyond almost all comparison, so that his audience would be melted even into tears before they were aware of tt.
This testimony, coming from one who was familiar with the best pulpit orators of his time, including Whitefield, who moved Gar- rick to tears, is significant enough, although we should remember that Trumbull was Wheelock’s friend. David McClure describes his master as follows;
Dr. Wheelock’s person was of a middle stature and size, well pro- portioned, erect and dignified. His features were prominent, his eyes a light blue and animated. His complexion was fair and the general expression of his countenance pleasing and handsome. His voice was remarkably full, harmonious and commanding.
The effectiveness of Wheelock as a preacher thus seems hardly to be a subject of doubt.
But preaching was not the only duty of the clergyman of colonial times. The morals of his flock he regarded as his direct responsibil- ity, and that responsibility he was watchful to fulfill. Civil courts were but one agency for the punishment of crime; the ecclesiastical jurisdiction had a potency of its own. So, among the papers of Wheelock, we find numerous citations of members of his congrega- tion to appear before him and the elders of his church to answer accusations which could be regarded (in some cases by a stretch of the imagination) as violations of the moral law. Such crimes as fighting, laughing in meeting, breach of the peace, refusal to ap- pear as a witness, drunkenness, and lying are among those which oc- cupied the attention of this clerical court. In the long run such © trials usually result in dissension in the congregation, and Whee- lock’s was no exception. In 1755 he, himself, was cited by two mem- bers of his flock to appear before the Association of Windham County to answer six charges, one of which, that he had falsely accused his congregation of being guilty of the sins of Corah, Dathan and Abiram, has a mysteriously horrifying sound. What happened in this case we do not know. But in general his people seemed content to follow his judgments so long as they did not
ELEAZAR WHEELOCK AND HIS INDIAN SCHOOL 19
bring about an increase in the rates for ministerial support, and the relationship was as peaceful as was common in parishes of the day.
The historian of Columbia describes the period as the most pros- perous in the history of the church. The first edifice, erected in 1724, was replaced by a larger house, started in 1747 and completed in 1754 at an expense of £4458, raised in a parish of but 170 tax- payers. This large meeting house was filled to overflowing each Sunday, “the whole mass of the population at that period being in the habit of attending church regularly’. When the Indian school was established, specified seats were assigned to the aborigines. Tradition has it that the edifice was painted sky-blue without, and with its red occupants within, it must have presented each Sunday an appearance sufficiently picturesque. Wheelock’s church was re- placed by the present structure in 1832.
It was impossible, of course, for Wheelock to maintain his grow- ing family upon his professional income. Fortunately he possessed, through land assigned upon his settlement, through inheritance and through the property of his first and second wives, a landed estate fairly comfortable for the times. In 1754 he rated himself on about 175 acres of land in Lebanon, for £39. Other land in the vicinity came into his possession at a later date, and he also inherited his father’s farm in Windham. The outlying lands he leased, gen- erally on shares, and on terms which indicate that he was in posses- sion of a sufficiency of sheep, oxen, cows, hogs and farming tools properly to equip them. ‘The land near Lebanon he ran himself, evidently as a practical and successful farmer. For labor he relied, in part at least, upon slaves. Bills of sale in existence show that he owned at various times seven colored men and women, but this evi- dence probably does not reveal the whole extent of his holdings. When he removed to Hanover he brought four slaves with him, leaving two in Connecticut. ‘The landed properties which he held seem to have been remunerative as long as he remained in personal charge. Their value was estimated by his friend Whitaker to be be- tween £2000 and £3000. The greater part, however, being placed on the market during the Revolution when land values were de- pressed, did not bring much over £1000. His house in Lebanon he retained until his death. It seems to have been of considerable size.
20 HISTORY OF DARTMOUTH COLLEGE
A large house was necessary to accommodate his family and numer- ous guests, and, moreover, the members of his school, some thirty in number, met daily in its hall for morning prayers. Whether the house in Columbia now pointed out as his really has that distinc- tion or is of later date is a matter of uncertainty.
The daily life of Wheelock in the routine of his parish was like that of the other ministers of his time. Most of them regarded them- selves as sufficiently busied with the work of the day, but the Leb- anon clergyman was a man never content with mere routine. The business of his life was the saving of souls, and to that business he set himself with an energy that knew no rest. He came at a fortunate time. After the original surge of energy which had brought the colonists to New England and had made for them secure habita- tions in the face of the forces of nature and of the opposition of the savages, life had begun to assume an aspect of comfort and stability. Religion there was in abundance, but so long as one conformed to established creed and followed established practice, it was not par- ticularly troublesome. Ministers there were in abundance, but their attention was largely devoted to routine, to theological con- troversy, to protecting the community from the inroads of heresy. The ordinary conforming citizen, a member of the church, finding in religious exercises his chief relief from the humdrum of life, was placidly content. He had once again shown the adaptibility of the human mind in fitting itself in comfort to the contours of a most uncomfortable theology. But now all was changed. A new move- ment was abroad in the land, one which aimed straight for the soul of the individual, one in which church membership, conformity, acceptance of creed, were matters of necessary but minor impart; a movement which put squarely to the man or woman the question, are you of the limited company of the elect, or is your soul doomed to hell?
It began at Northampton under the leadership of Jonathan Ed- wards. Without aid of the arts of oratory, calmly and evenly the minister pictured to his hearers the horrors of hell and developed with cold logic the conclusion that most of them would find in that place their final destination. So vivid was the description that his terrified listeners seemed actually to feel the heat of the flames and
ELEAZAR WHEELOCK AND HIS INDIAN SCHOOL 21
to stifle in the sulphurous fumes of the lower regions; so perfect was his logic that they seemed to be suspended by the thinnest of cords over the blazing abyss. ‘The contagion spread from Northampton far afield. Others of the clergy embraced with enthusiasm the oppor- tunity for saving souls, and much of Massachusetts and Connecticut was stirred by the hysteria of the movement. In his parish in Leb- anon, Wheelock, in the first year of his pastorate, rejoiced at the success of his own efforts. The period was the precursor of many others which he regarded as the great moments of his life. He showed himself, thus early, as one destined for high success in the winning of souls.
But the real impetus of the movement came in 1740 with the ad- vent of George Whitefield to New England. Under the spell of his eloquence, profoundly moved by his earnestness, the whole coun- try was stirred to its depths. Personal religion, the salvation of the individual, came to be the one interest of thousands previously apathetic to such appeals. Thus arose in America the first of the great revivals, still remembered as the time of the “Great Awaken- ing’. Wheelock entered upon it with high enthusiasm. On October 22,1740, he and his classmate Benjamin Pomeroy (now his brother- in-law, and his most intimate friend through life) met Whitefield at Wethersfield, and began an intimacy which was of decisive im- portance in its influence upon the institution which the Connecti- cut clergyman was to found. Among the disciples of Whitefield, Wheelock soon became an outstanding leader. His parish in Leb- anon claimed his attention, but his activities could by no means be limited to that confined sphere. Invitations poured in upon him from all sides, most of them couched with lamentable lack of orig- inality in the sterotyped form, ‘““Come over into Macedonia and help us.’ Even Jonathan Edwards, himself, appealed to him to assist the former’s father at Scantic ‘“‘where they are wholly dead in this extra- ordinary day of God’s gracious visitation”, and asked him to come to Northampton where “‘there has been a revival of religion of late but your labors have been much more remarkably blessed than mine’. A citizen of Lyme gave him a horse “in Consideration of Y° Extensive Labours of the Reverend Mr. Wheelock in Y° Work of Y° Ministry and his Present Circumstances in need of a Horse to
22 HISTORY OF DARTMOUTH COLLEGE
Perform Y° Same’. A petition, signed by forty-nine persons in vari- ous Connecticut towns, asked for the printing of one of his sermons with pledges for the purchase of 343 copies of the work. In 1741 he set out on a four-weeks’ mission to Providence and Boston. Every- where he was received with enthusiasm and many conversions re- sulted from his appeals. His power as an exhorter was unques- tioned. In ‘Taunton as
... he was delivering his discourse very pleasantly and moder- ately the depth and strength of feeling increased until some began to cry out both above and below, in awful distress and anguish of soul upon which he raised his voice that he might be heard above their out-cries but the distress and outcry spreading and increasing his voice at length was drowned that he could not be heard. Where- fore not being able to finish his sermon, with great apparent seren- ity and calmness of soul—he called to the distressed and bade them gather themselves together in the body of the seats below.
At Boston, where he remained four days, he was followed after a regular sermon in a church by a crowd of children on the street who demanded a sermon for themselves, a request which he gratified by turning into a private house and preaching to them there; a re- markable commentary on Wheelock’s effectiveness, on the hysteria of the times, and on the curious character of the children of the day. During the twenty-seven days of absence on this journey he preached on forty-four occasions. McClure computes that during a year he preached a hundred more sermons than there are days in that period. In 1742 he wrote to his wife from New Haven;
Ye week before Last I preached ro sermons.... Last week I Preach* ro times again. My journey was to Guilford Where we Saw a Great Shaking among Many & hell break Lose and in a rage at it. We allso Saw a Great Shaking at Branford & Sowelling at East Haven. They tell me in Y° two former places it was Greater than Ever had been seen before in them——Mr. Clap refuses to Let me preach in Y° College or to Let Y° Scholars come to hear me. O God would Give him another heart.
ELEAZAR WHEELOCK AND HIS INDIAN SCHOOL 23
Evidently Wheelock had no difficulty in working his hearers into the highly emotional state thought desirable by the revivalist. ‘The excitement in the Great Awakening seems never to have been car- ried so far as in the camp meetings of the west in the early years of the nineteenth century, but it went far enough. Wheelock was too keen an observer to be entirely satisfied with results obtained in this way and he spoke disparagingly of “false conversions.’’ Many of these changes of heart, nevertheless, seem to have been real. For years his correspondence was loaded with letters, generally from women, which set forth in long detail the state of the souls of the writers, with requests for the spiritual help which he seemed always ready to give. Twenty years after the Great Awakening we find a message addressed to him from Providence which makes up in piety what it lacks in orthography, and which begins with congrat- ulations to Wheelock on the
Glorierous out pouring of the Speret of God among you and Especially among the Youth as we have Jest Receved the News (Dear Sir) We Look upon It our Dewty as our Sperituall Father in Christ to Give you a Short account of our Relegeous affairs Ever Sence about two and Twenty years ago When you first Labord amongst us With grat Sucksess.
Tracy, the historian of the Great Awakening, estimates that from 25,000 tO 50,000 persons were converted during that period. Of these Wheelock must be credited with a goodly share.
Successful as were the efforts of Wheelock during the great re- _ vival, and considerable as was the repute brought to him thereby, the results were not to be recorded entirely on the credit side of the ledger. Bitter enmities were aroused, enmities which lasted through- out his life, enmities of those who had much power to injure him and the measures in which he was interested, and who used that power to the full. Among the more conservative members of the clergy, then as now, the manners of the evangelists were regarded with disdain, the excitement of revivals was looked upon with sus- picion and the results were deemed of doubtful value. Moreover, in this case a special pretext for antagonism was afforded by the peculiar theories of those who were leading the new movement.
24 HISTORY OF DARTMOUTH COLLEGE
Both sides professed devotion to the doctrines of Calvin, but the “New Lights”, as the radicals were called, drew from the Calvin- istic premises certain conclusions which seem entirely logical but which were infuriating in their effect on the more conservative party. It was agreed by all that man is born in a condition of utter depravity, it was likewise agreed that the elect have attained a state of grace, and it was admitted that the difference between the two states must be profound. The New Lights, with much reason, argued that when such a profound change takes place in a person it ought to be manifest to anyone who observes it; in any case it should be apparent to the person himself, and he should be able to tell others about it; in other words, there should be a definite his- tory of conversion. If no such experience exists, then that in itself is evidence that the person in question is still in a state of depray- ity and therefore surely doomed to hell fire. Now the latter condi- tion was precisely that of many members of the church, who had drifted comfortably into its bosom with no intervening period of special mental and spiritual stress, and who rested there in full confidence that they were among the elect. It was the condition, likewise, of many of the most eminent members of the ministry. ‘The laymen in this category were not regarded by the New Lights as a serious threat, since they simply represented so many more souls to save, but the clergy were looked upon with horror.as a menace to religion itself. The danger of an unconverted ministry was the plea of the revivalists and they pushed it, in some cases, to wild extremes. Whitefield, in his early work, as he admitted himself, carried his ac- cusations beyond the bounds of reasonable tolerance. Later, while maintaining the validity of the principle, he was careful to restrict himself to generalities in its application. Wheelock, in his early en- thusiams, probably exceeded the limits of good taste, although we have little direct evidence as to how far he was carried by his zeal. But there is no question as to how far the matter was pushed by the lunatic fringe of the movement. ‘The most extreme of these zealots was the Reverend James Davenport of Southold, Long Island. Emerging from his parish after a season of mental excitement in which he preached for twenty-four hours on end, he descended upon Connecticut, accompanied by Wheelock’s friend, Benjamin
ELEAZAR WHEELOCK AND HIS INDIAN SCHOOL 25
Pomeroy, as ‘‘armor bearer’, crazily inspired with the mission of reform. If he found the minister of a parish unsatisfactory, he de- nounced him by name and advised his parishioners to break away from their ecclesiastical bonds and to establish new churches of a more satisfactory character. He also had the engaging habit of re- ferring to his own mother as an unconverted person and naming in plain terms her eventual destination. As a sample of his methods an extract from a prayer delivered in Boston may be cited:
Good Lord I will not mince the matter any longer with Thee for Thou knowest that I know that most of the ministers of the town of Boston and of the country are unconverted and are leading their people blindfold to hell.... Pull them down, turn them out and put others in their places. They know nothing of Jesus Christ.
It is not a matter for wonder that his conduct “‘set the people in a mighty rustle” as one clerical observer reported, nor, as is common with wild enthusiasts, that he gained a devoted following. His last exploit was in New London, where he exhorted the people to form new congregations, and, as a preliminary step toward a better life, to burn in a huge bonfire all their gay clothing (his own contribu- tion was a pair of red velvet breeches) and the authoritative theolo- gical books of the New England divines. It is interesting to note that Connecticut thrift overcame religious enthusiasm and, at the last moment, the clothing was snatched from the flames, but most of the books went up in smoke as a fitting sacrifice.
It was not, however, a safe proceeding to insult the clergy of Con- necticut at this period; their influence with the secular arm was such that sharp punishment was sure to follow. As is so often the case in such matters, they overreached themselves in their method of control and accentuated the division which they intended to suppress. ‘The Assembly in 1742 enacted a measure “for regulating abuses and correcting disorders in ecclesiastical affairs’, which pro- vided that any minister who should preach, without permission of the incumbent, in the parish of another should, without trial and upon mere information lodged with the clerk of his own society, be deprived of all legal protection in the enforcement of his contract with his people for the term of seven years, leaving him at the mercy
26 HISTORY OF DARTMOUTH “COLLEGE
of voluntary contributions for support. Davenport denounced the law, but, as a resident of New York not being subject to the penalty, was summoned before the Assembly for trial on other grounds. After riotous scenes in the streets of Hartford he was finally exiled from the colony as of unsound mind. A similar verdict was ren- dered in Boston when he was arraigned for slandering the clergy of that city. Pomeroy was proceeded against in subsequent years as a result of a violation of the law which seems to have been largely accidental, and the full penalty was applied to him. Perhaps no measure could have been better adapted to insure his material prosperity. His people, sympathetic with his difficulties, contributed loyally the support which they were not legally obliged to give, and he labored under no hardship for subsistence during the seven years for which the penalty was imposed. The New Lights, how- ever, regarded the measure with justifiable resentment, and it did much to accentuate the differences which divided the Connecticut church.
There is no evidence that Wheelock looked with any sym- pathy upon the extravagances of Davenport. In fact, it was through strong representations on his part and that of his colleague in the first parish of Lebanon, the Reverend Solomon Williams, that Davenport was induced in 1744 to make a solemn recantation of his errors. In particular, Wheelock resolutely set his face against the Separatist tendencies which Davenport encouraged, and was will- ing to go to almost any length to defeat them. But it happened that Davenport was brother of Wheelock’s wife, while his “armor- bearer’, Pomeroy, had married Wheelock’s sister. From this family relationship conclusions as to the intimacy between Wheelock and the two evangelists were derived, which, in Davenport’s case at least, were far from warranted. In 1743 appeared a ponderous vol- ume by the influential Dr. Charles Chauncy, pastor of the First Church of Boston, entitled Seasonable Thoughts on the State of Religion in New England. Its purpose was the general condemna- tion of the revival and, in particular, of the extravagances coming in its train. Among other references to Wheelock, Dr. Chauncy said:
ELEAZAR WHEELOCK AND HIS INDIAN SCHOOL PBF |
The gentlemen I have in view, besides Mr. D—t, are Messers Pom- roy, Wheelock, Allen, Bliss, all of whom, it is generally known are one soul and have gone into the same methods of conduct: Tho’ I believe Mr. D—t has outdone them all. These are the ministers who have had the chief hand in raising the commotions in Con- necticut; whose sudden impulses and extraordinary Pretences to the spirit have been more general (in proportion) and extravagant than in any of the other governments.
Apparently, at first, Wheelock paid no attention to this statement. Years later, when its influence had become apparent, he endeavy- ored to pin down Dr. Chauncy to proof of his charges and, when unable to induce the Boston divine to reply to his challenge, he issued a detailed denial. It is plain that, whatever may have been the extravagances of which Wheelock in his early years was guilty, they were much overestimated in Dr. Chauncy’s accusation. It will also appear that after this early outbreak he was as conservative in his conduct as could have been desired. Nevertheless, the opinion of Wheelock to which Dr. Chauncy gave expression was generally held by a dominating section of the clergy of Boston and even ex- tended to his alma mater, Yale. It was a prejudice which no efforts on his part could change, and it remained a constant factor, always to be allowed for, in any plan which he undertook. We shall meet it repeatedly in our consideration of the school and college.
It was, of course, impossible to maintain the congregations per-- manently on the high plane of emotionalism reached in the great revival. Jonathan Edwards attempted to do it, and found himself, by an almost unanimous vote of his flock at Northampton, without any charge at all. Other clergymen were more accommodating and, while bemoaning among themselves the “low state of religion’, bided their time until matters should improve. Wheelock’s busi- ness in life, however, was the saving of souls, and in the pursuit of that business his tireless energy could give him no rest. If the whites were temporarily insensitive to the call of religion, perhaps some- thing might be done with the Indians. ‘To them he turned his atten- tion, and the Christianizing of the savages became thenceforth the main interest of his life.
28 HISTORY OF DARTMOUTH. COLLEGE
That interest was aroused by the success which he had already attained in the training of an Indian boy of the Mohegan tribe, named Samson Occom. This lad was born in 1723 and, according to his own account, remained until the age of sixteen in a state of ignorance and heathenism. One of the traveling evangelists visited New London at this time and Occom, in his neighboring Indian village, was among those carried away by his influence. The boy determined to become better acquainted with the English language, to master the arts of reading and writing, to adapt himself to the habits and religion of his white neighbors. Some progress he made by himself, with whatever assistance could be obtained in his home environment, but he was anxious for added opportunities. Like many of the clergymen of the day, Wheelock was accustomed to add to his income by preparing boys for college, and Occom, learn- ing of the facilities thus afforded, prevailed upon his mother to plead with Wheelock to admit him into this school. This she suc- ceeded in doing, rather to Occom’s surprise, and the lad entered Wheelock’s family in December, 1743. Here he remained until 1747, a docile and reasonably intelligent pupil. By this training he was prepared for college, but difficulties with his eyes forbade further study at that time. After teaching school for a period, he studied theology with Pomeroy and finally settled among the Mon- tauk tribe on the eastern tip of Long Lsland as schoolmaster and preacher, providing in the meantime for his support by labors as a farmer, cooper and bookbinder. He was ordained in 1759. For the first two years of his service he received no compensation, then he was given £20 to pay his debts and, in addition, for nine years £20 annually as a salary by the Boston Board (later to be described), about one-eighth of the sum which a white man in such a position would have demanded. Occom had a large family and was wretch- edly poor, but as a Christianized Indian he was a marked success. For his example Wheelock was justified in anticipating that similar results could be obtained on a larger scale, should proper efforts be made. Curiously enough, with none of the many Indians who subsequently came under his charge was that success in large meas- ure repeated.
ELEAZAR WHEELOCK AND HIS INDIAN SCHOOL 29
One is tempted to wonder why the Puritans should have troubled themselves with the task of Christianizing the savages and whether, having safely guided their proteges to heaven, they might not there- upon be expected to put forth every effort to drive their red brethren, by chicane or by force, from that portion of the celestial realm assigned to their use. At least that was what they did on this mundane sphere. The scruples of Calvinism were ineffective in preserving to the Indians any considerable portion of their lands, in keeping from them strong drink, (although there was some at- tempt to prohibit such sales by law) or in preventing devastating reprisals for attempts on the part of the redskins to maintain their rights by force. As a result, while the colonists increased in New England by leaps and bounds, the Indians declined in an equal ratio, so that, in Wheelock’s time, they were a miserable remnant, wretchedly poor and often besotted. ‘The field for missionary effort was evidently, for the most part, beyond the bounds of that region. McClure smugly inquires concerning this disappearance of the Savages:
Must we not ascribe it to the sovereign pleasure of the Most High, who divides to the nations their inheritance, who pulleth down one and raiseth up another?
The answer to this question must have been more conducive to pious resignation on the part of the English than it was on that of the Indians. When Wheelock received as the sole contents of the collection basket a bullet and a gun-flint, as a result of his requests for subscriptions urged upon a Connecticut congregation, it was evident that there were many in the colonies of the opinion that the only good Indian is one who is dead.
But such a picture gives a misleading impression if it is taken to represent the attitude of New England as a whole. Many there were who viewed the condition of the aborigines with sympathy. ‘The clergy, in particular, were keenly impressed with the fact that the Indians had souls which it was their duty to save. So we find such efforts as the pioneering mission of Eliot at Natick, of John Sergeant at Stockbridge, of the Brainerds among the Delawares of New Jer- sey. If all the remnants of the New England tribes at this time were
30 HISTORY OF DARTMOUTH COLLEGE
not “praying Indians’, their failure to reach that goal was not through lack of opportunity. Moreover a number of societies in England were active in the work of supplying means for missionary effort. Two of them are of particular importance to this story. “The Company for the Propagation of the Gospel in New England and Parts Adjacent’”’ was founded in London in 1649, and re-chartered in 1661. It will be referred to henceforth as the London Society. It was represented in Boston by a Board of Commissioners, which we will call the Boston Board. ‘“The Society in Scotland for Propagat- ing Christian Knowledge’, founded in 1709 (termed the Scotch Society), was represented in Boston by a Board of Correspondents and in New York by a similar one. The duties of the latter, after the founding of Princeton, were transferred to the Trustees of that institution. These bodies will be called the Boston and the New Jersey Correspondents.
It was thus into no new or untried field that Wheelock entered. He was impressed, as were many others, by the necessity of saving the souls of the savages, and he was well aware that the work must be done at once if any Indians were to survive to be saved. The method which he evolved, however, had the merit of originality. In previous attempts to foster Indian education, the schools had been brought to the heathen and placed in their midst. The result, in general, was far from satisfactory. ‘The school was disturbed by the frequent wanderings of the tribes, attendance was sporadic, and whatever good effect might be produced was neutralized by the irregularities and laxities to which the pupil was exposed in the life of his home. It was Wheelock’s purpose to remove the child from his native environment, to keep him at a distance from his family so that visits could be but infrequent, and to surround him with the infiuences of the Puritan home and Puritan church. The impres- sions and habits thus formed in childhood would, he hoped, be- come permanent, so that when the young man, thus Christianized, educated and civilized, should return to his tribe, he could be relied upon to act as a powerful influence toward bringing his savage brethren to similar ideals. In urging his plan, while the saving of souls was made the main consideration, entirely practical by-prod- ucts were not neglected. ‘The presence of Indian boys in the school
ELEAZAR WHEELOCK AND HIS INDIAN SCHOOL 31
would act, he said, as a restraining influence upon their parents and would make them less likely to enter into hostilities against those among whom their children were living. Their presence would also serve as a counterbalance to the insidious efforts of the Jesuits among the tribes, and to the resulting attachment of the aborigines to the French. In his opinion, money spent in education would be far more fruitful in its influence for peace than that devoted to armaments. Moreover, instruction in the arts of husbandry was a central feature of the plan. If the Indians could be persuaded to rely upon agriculture rather than upon hunting for their livelli- hood, the area of land necessary for their support would be tre- mendously reduced and the most troublesome cause of friction be- tween them and the whites would be minimized. Again, the expense of missionary work would be decreased and its effectiveness in- creased. Indian missionaries would be received by tribes who would not harbor those who were white, their familiarity with Indian cus- toms would prevent serious errors of judgment, their support would require a minimum of expenditure, and interpreters would not be needed. ‘The Indian missionaries would be docile under control and practically at the mercy of those under whose patronage they lived, raised as they were by their education to be no longer content with the life of the ordinary savage, and precluded by their color from entering into competition with the English in the regular work of the ministry. Altogether, the scheme seemed to many to be a well rounded one and entirely feasible in its application.
The weakness of it is of course apparent to us, but at the time it seems not to have been recognized by Wheelock nor by his New England contemporaries. It lay in the fact that Indians were In- dians, and what Wheelock was attempting to do was entirely to remake these savages into a form quite different from that natural to them. Qualities innate to the redskins impressed him with horror. Speaking of one of his boys he said, “I have taken much Pains to purge all the Indian out of him, but after all a little of it will sometimes appear’. Christianizing the Indian meant to him bringing the savage within the fold of the Calvinistic creed, with all the inhibitions on perfectly natural impulses which the Puritan church imposed; civilizing him meant imposing upon the native
32 HISTORY OF DARTMOUTH COLLEGE
the laborious and monotonous life of the Connecticut farmer or artisan, with his somewhat penurious and narrow point of view. It is difficult enough to remake anyone; to remold the savage so that he might conform to an ideal so different from that derived from his native environment was indeed a herculean task. ‘The Connect- icut Puritan possessed many admirable qualities, but his life was hardly that which an unprejudiced observer, untrammeled by being reared under its traditions, would voluntarily select for him- self. An Episcopal opponent of Wheelock, in an overdrawn and jaundiced criticism of the work of his mission, despite his prejudice conveys a real idea of the difficulty:
The Presbyterians are tucking and squeezing in every possible Crevice they can their Missionaries amongst the Indians, who from their Solemnity, with ungraceful stiffness, and those recluse and unsociable dejected Airs which so remarkedly distinguishes those Splenetic & frightened Enthusiasts: for while these are continued, Piety is quite striped of its own proper Ornaments and assumes the Habit of Craft, Vice, and Ill nature—and ts enough to prejudice the Indians against the sublime Truths of the Gospel.
Whatever reasons we may assign for the result, it will become evi- dent that the fruits of Wheelock’s efforts came very far from satis- fying his expectations, and he soon found that his plan could be effective only after extensive modification.
No such fears troubled him, however, as he started upon his new enterprise. He went about the matter with characteristic energy and enthusiasm, and with sound business sense. In December, 1754, he received from the Reverend John Brainerd two Indian boys of the Delaware tribe in New Jersey, John Pumshire and Jacob Woolley, the former fourteen years of age, the latter eleven. They made the journey to Lebanon, a distance of two hundred miles, on foot, with no guide but the written directions given them by Brainerd. Wool- ley remained in the school many years, but Pumshire was sent home on account of ill health in November, 1756, and died soon after. Wheelock lamented his fate but learned from it much concerning the special care which his Indian boys required. In his place came in April, 1757, two other boys of the same tribe, Joseph Woolley
ELEAZAR WHEELOCK AND HIS INDIAN SCHOOL 33
and Hezekiah Calvin. Brainerd described the latter as a “Smart little Fellow, but will want taking Care of. He loves to play and will leave his Hat in one Place & his Mittens in another, . . . Your Wisdom will direct”. One has a feeling of sympathy for the unsus- pecting Indian lad who was thus to come under the domination of the austere Puritan divine. Perhaps our sympathy is misplaced. McClure says of Wheelock, “While other teachers appeared before their pupils as scrupulous legislators or stern judges, he was always the gentle and affectionate father of his tawny family’’. In truth, he seemed admirably adapted to the work. While the lads under his charge always looked upon him with awe, nevertheless there ap- peared in nearly all cases a sense of veneration and sometimes one of real affection. In December, 1758, Joseph Johnson, a Mohegan, entered the school, and in April, 1759, David Fowler, a Montauk, brother-in-law of Occom. These two boys, especially the second, became in after years the most successful of Wheelock’s pupils, next to Occom himself. In 1760 Occom’s son Aaron and Isaiah Uncas, presumptive chief of the Mohegans, made their appearance.
The school was thus of slow but steady growth. ‘The state of war between English and French, existing during this period, made it quite impossible for Wheelock to extend his efforts beyond southern New England and New Jersey. Nevertheless, at the end of 1760 he had under his charge eight Indians, at an expense which could not have been less than {20 a year for each, and support for them must be provided. ‘Thus began his struggles with ways and means,
a struggle which weighed upon his mind to the day of his death. _ ‘The advent of the Indians in Lebanon attracted much attention, and Wheelock’s plan received the hearty approval of many of the godly people of Connecticut. Some of this approval was expressed in terms of money. A subscription was undertaken in 1755 which produced about £500. According to the terms of the agreement, the principal of this amount was not collected at once, but the interest upon it at 6 per cent. was payable annually until the main sum should be called for. In the same year Col. Joshua More,! a wealthy farmer of Mansfield, was induced to give to a group of trustees,
*So he spelled his name. In after years, as applied to the school, it was modified to Moor.
34 HISTORY OF DARTMOUTH: COLLEGE
consisting of Colonel Elisha Williams, former Rector (or Presi- dent) of Yale, the Reverend Samuel Moseley of Windham, Wheel- ock and Pomeroy, about two acres of land in Lebanon, upon which was a “convenient tenement’, the whole for the purpose of “Edu- cating such of the Indian Natives of any or all the Indian ‘Tribes of North America or other poor persons in reading, writing and all Liberal Arts and Sciences as the said ‘Trustees shall think best and proper, and especially for instructing them in the Knowledge & Practice of the Protestant Christian Religion’. It will be noted that by the terms of the deed, probably dictated by Wheelock, the bene- fits of the endowment were not restricted solely to Indians. The value of the property was about £500. The “tenement” became and remained, until removal of the institution to Hanover, the home of the school, the schoolrooms being on the lower floor and the lodg- ings of the boys on the upper one. Much modified, diminished in size and cut down to a single story, it survives, so far as the frame is concerned, as the present schoolhouse at Columbia. The Boston Board likewise became interested in the work. In 1756 Wheelock received from it a grant of £12, and in 1758 one of £20. The latter donation was continued annually until the English mission, later to be described, brought so much money to the school that the Board considered its assistance to be no longer needed. Most im- portant of all, the attention of Whitefield was directed to the infant institution, and he pledged himself to do all that he could to aid the cause, a pledge which he abundantly redeemed. As yet, however, the school was run largely at Wheelock’s own expense. The ac- counts from its origin to December 23, 1760, show that the cost of operation had been £285.14.4, while the receipts from all sources were £156.9.6. leaving a deficit of £129.4.10.
The possession of real property brought in its train certain com- plications. Appeal to William Smith, a leading barrister in New York, elicited the opinion that a deed of trust executed by an in- dividual had no legal standing, while the device of a double set of trustees, which the learned lawyer recommended as legally satis- factory, appealed to everyone of common sense as too cumbersome to be workable. It was evident that some kind of incorporation was desirable. ‘Through the efforts of Whitefield, Denis DeBerdt, a
ELEAZAR WHEELOCK AND HIS INDIAN SCHOOL 35
London merchant, and Dr. Benjamin Avery of the same city, in- terested themselves in the matter and presented a petition for a royal charter to Lord Halifax, Secretary of State. ‘That nobleman expressed his cordial approval of the enterprise but advised that a colonial charter should be secured, because of the expenses attend- ant upon royal incorporation. Wheelock was reluctant to take this action, as it would limit possible sites for his school to the colony involved. However, he finally decided to make such an appeal to Connecticut. His application was approved by the Lower House but rejected by the Council, for reasons which seem evasive and hardly to the point. The real motive of refusal, while never thus stated by Wheelock himself and only to be surmised, was probably the opposition of Yale, which looked with no favor upon an insti- tution of near-collegiate grade set up under her very nose. At least, that is the explanation of the difficulty bluntly given some years later by the advocates of one of the localities bidding for the school, as an argument for its removal from Connecticut. The Council advised Wheelock to apply for a royal charter, a grant of which, upon investigation, was found to be quite out of the question in the absence of favorable action by the colony. Thus, for the time, the quest for a charter had to be abandoned, and Wheelock, for many years, labored under great embarrassment in soliciting funds for an institution which had no legal status.
In 1761 the pace of the movement began to accelerate. France had been driven from North America and Indian disturbances coming from French influence were no longer to be feared, al- though uprisings, culminating in the conspiracy of Pontiac, con- tinued for some years. The New England Indians were no longer of much account, but the Six Nations (or Iroquois), occupying the center of the colony of New York, were numerous, powerful and obstreperous. It was agreed by all that civilization and Christianity applied to them would do no harm. Moreover, financial aid might result from work among them. In 1751 Sir Peter Warren had be- queathed to the colony of Massachusetts the sum of £750, the inter- est of which was to be devoted to the education of the children of the Iroquois tribes. Nothing had been done with the fund up to this time. Wheelock now applied to the Assembly for the award of
36 HISTORY OF DARTMOUTH: COLLEGE
a grant from it, and in November, 1761, he was given £72 for the support of six children of the Iroquois for one year. ‘This grant was continued, although against persistent opposition from powerful elements in Boston, until 1767.
Success among the Six Nations was largely dependent upon the favor of one person, Sir William Johnson, a man of most remark- able character and influence. Of Irish birth, brought to America by his uncle, Sir Peter Warren, to manage the latter’s large estates in the Mohawk valley, soon in possession of immense tracts of land of his own, Indian trader, Superintendent of Indian Affairs by royal appointment, perhaps the richest of the colonists and the second American baronet, he enjoyed among the Iroquois a repu- tation for honesty and upright dealing such as no Englishman in the land possessed. Moreover, on account of the victory gained by him (despite his lack of military training) over Dieskau near Fort Edward in 1755, at a time when regular English commanders were maintaining their regularity by the uniformity of their de- feats, he was the best known and most highly esteemed of the American colonists in England itself. After some preliminary cor- respondence, Wheelock in 1761 sent Occom (who had now re- tired from Montauk, and had established himself in a new house at Mohegan) accompanied by David Fowler to ask of Johnson his patronage and support. The response of the Indian agent was all that could have been wished for; he expressed his interest in the school and promised to do all in his power to secure for Wheelock the Indian boys whom he desired. Occom went on to the Oneida country and spent the summer there; the first of the missions estab- lished among that tribe, which subsequently was to be so fruitful a field. As a result of these efforts five Mohawk boys came to Whee- lock’s school in that year. Among them was the most famous of his Indian pupils, Joseph Brant, subsequentiy a renowned Mohawk chieftain, the dreaded foe of the Americans in the Revolutionary War, but generally esteemed for his sagacity and wise leadership. Brant stayed at the school a little over a year. He always cherished the highest esteem for his master and years later, from his home in Canada, he sent two of his sons to the school in Hanover with a message of warm affection to Wheelock’s son and successor, ex-
ELEAZAR WHEELOCK AND HIS INDIAN SCHOOL 37
pressing the hope that his boys would be able for a long period to enjoy the advantages of which he himself had had too brief an ex- perience. In 1762 three more Mohawks came to the school, as well as two Delawares and three representatives of the New England tribes. So it went. By the close of 1765 twenty-nine Indian boys, of whom fourteen were from the Six Nations, seven from the Del- awares, and eight from the New England tribes, had been enrolled in his school for longer or shorter periods. Wheelock recognized the fact that the Indians on their return to their homes should not be allowed to fall into a way of living in which the standards of civil- ization were relaxed. He therefore secured Indian girls to be trained in the arts of the housewife, whom he expected to become wives of his pupils as they returned to their native environment. These girls he placed with pious families in his parish, requiring their attend- ance in the school one day in each week. Ten of them, up to 1765, were members of his school. Of course not all the boys and girls were present at any one time, but the average enrollment of In- dians at this period was in the vicinity of eighteen.
In addition, a certain number of English boys were trained with the Indians. ‘That was the method adopted by Wheelock to obtain leaders for his missionary efforts. Youths in humble circumstances, but of promising mentality, were selected. ‘They were required to file a bond by means of which Wheelock might be indemnified for the expenses of their education if subsequently they did not pursue a missionary career, and their training, through school and college,
was then provided at the expense of the endownment. Through arrangements with Princeton and afterwards with Yale, much of the work of college grade was actually done in the school. Some of the time of these students was also spent in the mission field, where they served as schoolmasters and studied the language of the tribe to which they were sent. While at the school the English boys and the Indians lived together, and a spirit of comradeship was supposed to develop among them. The first youth with whom this arrangement was made subsequently became by far the most successful of the group. He was Samuel Kirkland, of Norwich, who entered the school in 1760 and was enrolled in Princeton as a sophomore in 1762. His degree from that college came to him 7n absentia in 1765
38 HISTORY OF DARTMOUTH: COLLEGE
when he had entered upon his work among Indians. In 1764 David Avery, of Norwich, and David McClure, of Boston, entered the institution. We shall hear much of them as we continue. Alto- gether, by 1765, Wheelock had enrolled eight English boys in his school.
This progress was encouraging but it called for money. The school lived from hand to mouth. The daily demands of the institu- tion might well have worried a nervous person, but Wheelock was placidly undisturbed. He was full of faith that the Lord would provide, and the Lord usually did, but only at the last possible moment. Not that Wheelock rested in idleness on his faith; he was untiring in the work of solicitation. He was a most skillful beggar, plausible, persistent, tactful, and, through it all, possessed of a keen sense of dignity and self-respect. He regarded himself, with all sincerity, as the agent of Christ, and he conducted himself with the poise that a servant of Christ might be expected to show. In 1763, wearied by continual repetition of letter-writing in setting forth the claims of his school, he published the first of his Narratives, which told the story of the institution up to that date and which was so successful in attaining its end that continuations were issued in 1765, 1766 (with a second edition in 1767), 1769, 1771, 1773 (in two editions) and 1775. The editions of 1766 and 1769 were pub- lished in England. The series, as a whole, gives the complete story of the school and of the work of the missions.
Wheelock’s sources of revenue, aside from his two grants from Boston, were of the most diverse character. The influence of White- field was apparent. In 1761 the institution received a gift of {50 sterling from the Marquis of Lothian and another of an equal amount in 1762. In the former year Denis DeBerdt sent £20 ster- ling, which had been collected in London. In 1762 Whitefield gave a bell to the school, Skipper ‘Townsend of Boston donated two quintals of cod and a barrel of rice, and William Dickson of Edin- burgh gave twenty books. In 1763 the Connecticut Assembly is- sued a “‘brief,”’ authorizing collections in the churches of the state. On a journey to Portsmouth, Wheelock obtained subscriptions amounting to £44 and the Assembly of New Hampshire awarded a grant of £50. The Earl of Sterling gave £30. In 1764 a collection
ELEAZAR WHEELOCK AND HIS INDIAN SCHOOL 39
ina New York church amounted to £100, Whitefield sent a box of globes, Mr. Pemberton of Boston £100, a collection of goods in Newburyport brought in £40, and John Phillips of Exeter made a gift of £100, the first of a long series. In 1765 an “unnamed lady in England” gave £100 sterling. This lady seems, beyond doubt, to have been Selina, Countess of Huntington, the patron saint of Methodism. ‘These are merely examples of the diverse sources of the contributions which were received. They were necessary and welcome but still far from sufficient. In 1765 Wheelock’s accounts showed that the disbursements of the school from the beginning had exceeded the receipts by £280. In addition, he had given his own persistent and tireless labor of superintendence with no thought of remuneration.
‘The proper care of Indian youths evidently required a technique of its own. In 1761 Wheelock wrote to Whitefield;
None know, nor can any, without Experience, Well conceive of the Difficulty of Educating an Indian. They would soon kill them- selves with Eating and Sloth, if constant care were not exercised for them—at least the first year. They are used to set upon the Ground and it 1s as natural for them as a seat to our Children—they are not wont to have any Cloathes but what they wear, nor will they, without much Pains, be brot to take Care of any,—They are used to a Sordid Manner of Dress and love it as well as our Children to be clean. They are not used to any Regular Government, the Sad Con- sequences of which you may a little guess at. They are used to live from Hand to Mouth (as we Speak) and have no care for Futur- ity, they have never been used to the Furniture of an English House and dont know but that a Wineglass is as strong as an Handi- ron. Our Language when they Seem to have got it is not their Mother Tongue, and they cannot receive nor communicate in that as in their own. It is a long time before they will learn the proper Place & Use of the Particles, A, An, the &c and they are as unpol- ished & Unculivated within as without. However experience has taught us that it may be done. And they lie as open to conviction of the Truth of their State When proper matter of Conviction is com- municated to them as any and there is Much Ground to hope for
40 HISTORY OF DARTMOUTH: COLLEGE
their Conversion and Iam still of Opinion that the Time of God’s Mercy to them is now near at Hand.
The regular instruction of the flock was in the hands of a master, but Wheelock himself was in charge of the devotional exercise. The routine of the day, as described in the first Narrative, was as follows. The boys were required to be clean and decently dressed and ready to attend prayers before sunrise in the fall and winter, and at six o’clock in the summer. The scriptures were read and those who were able answered questions in the Assembly’s Cate- chism. After a short period of diversion, school began at nine and ended at twelve, with a second session from two to five. Evening prayers were held before dark, then came a period of study. All the members of the school were required to attend public worship twice on Sunday. Between the services a master heard them read and catechised and discoursed with them. Once or twice a week they heard a discourse calculated to their capacities. It should be remembered that a number of English charity students were pre- paring for college in the school (as well as some independent stu- dents) and that, at times, missionary students already in college were Carrying on in absentia the work supposed to be done in those institutions. Che labors of the master who had charge of these tasks must have been sufficiently onerous.
We also have a description of the work of the school in a letter from a Boston merchant, John Smith, which is too long for com- plete quotation. Among other things he said;
And itis really charming to see Indian Youths of Different Tribes & Languages in pure English reading the Work of God & speaking with Exaciness & accuracy on points (either chosen by themselves or given out to them) in the Severall arts and sciences, And espe- cially to see this done with at Least a seeming Mixture of Obedience to God, a fillial Love & Reverence to Mr. Wheelock & yet with great Ambition to Excell each other
He also called attention to their love of music and their especial enjoyment of the musical portion of the devotional exercises. It is rather surprising, indeed, to find frequent references to this par-
ELEAZAR WHEELOCK AND HIS INDIAN SCHOOL 41
ticular trait of the aborigines. One of Wheelock’s pupils, Occom, rose in this respect to creative heights. The hymn “Awaked by Sinai’s Awful Sound”, for many years included in standard collec- tions, is from his pen, while his own hymnal (published in 1774, with two subsequent editions) probably contains a number of other metrical works of his composition.
The letter just mentioned sheds an interesting side-light on Wheelock’s methods. ‘The context would lead us to believe that the author was a disinterested gentleman of refinement, leisurely traveling through New England more or less at random, with the laudable ambition of describing to the public those features en- countered in his journey which seemed of greatest interest. As a matter of fact, Smith was Wheelock’s business representative in Boston, whole-heartedly devoted to the cause of Indian education, and, from the first, keenly interested in the school. While the facts which he reported were essentially correct, the evidence could hardly be regarded as that of a disinterested observer. The skill of Wheelock in procuring favorable publicity, and generally in the works of propaganda, must be regarded with respect even in these days when the art of advertising has reached such heights.
In addition to the intellectual training supplied by the school, Wheelock considered it of the highest importance that his students should become experienced in the practical arts, particularly that of agriculture. ‘his experience was to be gained by labor on his farm. He required it not only of the Indians, but also of his English charity students, a large part of whose efforts, in their future mis- sions, was to be devoted to instruction of their proteges in such mat- ters. The demand seems reasonable but it gave rise to misconcep- tions; it was indeed asserted that Wheelock was using his pupils as a source of cheap labor upon his farm. Even if the utility of agricul- tural training were granted, it remained true that the Indians did not like the work, nor, if the truth is known, did his white pupils care much more for it. One of the aborigines, at a much later date, made this protest;
I understand the Doctor when I talked with him, that we must work as much as to pay our way and if we Should what good will
42 HISTORY OF DARTMOUTH .COLLEGE
the Charity money do the Indians, wich was given them, tf we poor Indians Shall work as much as to pay for our learning we can go Some other place as good as here.
No doubt this was regarded by its author as a masterpiece of logic. Despite the objections continually raised to the requirement, Wheelock insisted upon it to the end.
In general, so long as his Indian boys were young the affairs of the school ran smoothly enough. Wheelock speaks of them as “‘or- derly, governable, easy & contented”. As they grew older they were not handled so readily. In his later years even his most promising pupil, David Fowler, could not always be trusted. Returning from a mission, he took to himself a wife from among the Indian girls in the school. Wheelock, much pleased, incautiously gave him an un- restricted order for a proper equipment. Fowler’s idea of what a young Indian couple should wear was evidently patterned on the attire of Solomon, and Wheelock was horrified at the resulting ex- pense. In the correspondence which ensued the contending parties could not seem to agree on the issue involved. Fowler's plea was based on the high value of his services and his personal excellence, far exceeding that of any other Indian, while Wheelock’s point was that he could not “use Christ’s money to clothe his pupils like courtiers”. ‘The result of the controversy was a very disgruntled young Indian. Far more serious was the case of Jacob Woolley. He was one of the first two Indians in the school, sent by Brainerd in 1754. His progress was excellent, he was eventually prepared for college and was sent to Princeton in the fall of 1759. Here, too, his work was satisfactory until his senior year, when he was sent home by President Finley as “having lost all sense of honor’, which seems to mean that he was drunk much of the time and idle all the time. Incidentally, it may be said that Wheelock sent no more of his Indians to college until he had an institution of his own where he could give them his personal attention. Even when the Indian had returned to his master’s tutelage, the improvement in his conduct was not marked. Wheelock’s reply to the remonstrance of one of his friends, who was inclined to believe that Woolley was treated too harshly, gives an idea of some of his difficulties with the lad;
ELEAZAR WHEELOCK AND HIS INDIAN SCHOOL 43
Had you heard the Arguments, Intreaties, everything moving within my power, which has Scores of Times caused his Tears to flow, and had you seen the Interchangeable Expressions and evt- dence of Sinful pride, had you heard his horrid Blashphemies ag* Heaven, Imprecations of Dam upon himself, threats of vengeance upon me and another without Provocation, had you seen his Con- tempt for all Authority and Deafness to all Intreaties & Y° Terror which my fam. & School have been put into for fear of Murther— insomuch as one memD of it was Confined in a Neighboring House for part of a Day and a Night wc, &c, horribila dictu—and when nothing would avail he was told Y° Extreme Course must and should be used, and all this horrid Scene before the School tho’ to this day a Secret in the Neighborhood.
Evidently the conduct of an Indian school had its moments of ten- sion. Soon after this outbreak Woolley ran away and disappears from the story.
The mission of Occom to the Oneidas in 1761 has been men- tioned. He went again in 1762, but found a state of famine prevail- ing in the tribe which drove him home before the end of the sum- mer. In the next year he was likewise driven back by the Pontiac Wars, while in 1764, Wheelock, lacking money, sent him by the way of New York, where Whitefield then was, with the purpose that the latter would supply him with funds. Whitefield took of- fense at the request and sent Occom back to Mohegan, an action _ which nearly caused a break between the English preacher and his Connecticut friend.
Now, however, the time was ripe for missionary enterprises on a larger scale. A Yale graduate, Charles Jeffrey Smith, a young man of independent means, had become interested in the cause, had served gratuitously as master of the school and had determined to devote himself to the work of converting the heathen. Unfor- tunatly, as matters developed, his health did not permit him to engage in active service, but he remained a valued adviser of Whee- lock as Jong as he lived. Kirkland, however, was ready for the task, and two graduates of Yale, Titus Smith, 1764, and ‘Theophilus Chamberlain, 1765, were also enrolled in the enterprise. The latter
44 HISTORY OF DARTMOUTH COLLEGE
possessed the advantage of having lived among the Indians for some time as a captive. In addition, three Indian boys in the school (Joseph Woolley, Hezekiah Calvin, and David Fowler) were con- sidered fully qualified to act as independent school teachers, and six others, of tenderer years, to serve in a similar capacity under the direction of English missionaries. In order that the work might have official sanction of some kind, the Scotch Society was induced to set up a Board of Correspondents in Connecticut, composed of a number of ministers in that colony. This Board, in addition to the supervision of missionary enterprises, was authorized to collect money for Wheelock’s school and to control its expenditure, thus alleviating the difficulty caused by a lack of legal incorporation.
The story of the missionary efforts under Wheelock’s leadership is long and complicated. Some of it vies in interest with the work of the Jesuit missions a hundred years before, so graphically de- scribed by Parkman, although the element of intense tragedy is lacking; some of it is drab and earthy enough. Space will permit merely the recital of the bare outlines of the story.
The first of the missionaries to depart was Kirkland, who started on his journey in October, 1764, accompanied by Joseph Woolley. His plan was exceedingly bold and one which gave promise of great _ personal danger. It was no less than a visit to the Senecas, the larg- est, the most remote and the most savage of the tribes of the Six Nations, never before visited by a Protestant missionary. Reaching the seat of Sir William Johnson, he remained there for six weeks, sending Woolley to teach school at Onohoquaga, a village of semi- civilized Mohawks on the Susquehanna River. He then pushed through the Oneida country and finally reached Canadesaga, the chief town of the Senecas, on February 7, 1765. Here for a long time he was in the utmost danger. Received at first in a kindly fashion, and entertained at the house of a principal chief, it un- fortunately happened that the head of the family died shortly after the arrival of the missionary. By many of the Indians this calamity was attributed to the malign influence of the white, and he was marked for death. Curiously enough, it was the kin of the dead man who protected him and finally adopted him as their brother. Famine invaded the community, and Kirkland’s description of the
ELEAZAR WHEELOCK AND HIS INDIAN SCHOOL 45
expedients adopted by his Indian friends to ward off starvation makes uneasy reading for the squeamish. As time went on, his posi- tion became more easy, although for a long period he was in danger when strange Indians came to the village, and often was compelled to take to the woods until the hostile visitors should depart. Some of his escapes were very narrow ones indeed. Nevertheless, as his work continued, he succeeded in winning the confidence of the natives and his position became much less perilous. After a stay of eighteen months he returned to Connecticut in the spring of 1766, accompained by his adopted brother, the second chief of the Senecas. ‘This dusky potentate was received with great honor by the authorities of the colony. ‘The Assembly awarded him a grant of £20, a suit of brilliant regimentals, and a horse, and the chieftain departed much pleased by his reception. Joseph Woolley established his school successfully, but soon fell a victim to consumption. Whee- lock mourned him as one of the most promising of his pupils. Kirkland was the most successful of the missionaries who were trained under Wheelock’s influence, and the only one who re- mained in the field for any long period. He possessed the qualities necessary to attain a high degree of influence among the Indians, and his life was devoted to missionary work. We shall hear much of him as we proceed.
In the meantime the spring of 1765 brought a further expansion in Wheelock’s activities among the Six Nations. The start was made with most favorable prospects of success. In March, the Connecti- cut Correspondents met to examine and ordain Chamberlain and Titus Smith. At the very hour set for the meeting a strange red- skin appeared. He was Good Peter, a Christianized Indian from Onohoquaga on the Susquehanna, a field where the Boston Board had for a time supported missionary work, but which it had now apparently abandoned. He came to ask that a missionary and a schoolmaster should once again be maintained in his village. Half an hour later appeared Elisha Gunn, an experienced interpreter, who was open to engagement in the mission field. In this unpre- meditated meeting of all the factors needed for the establishment of a mission, Wheelock could see only the hand of God, although
46 HISTORY OF DARTMOUTH. COLLEGE
the outcome was to show that such a view of the situation was over- optimistic.
Wheelock had insufficient funds to equip so large a party but, providentially again as he thought, a collection of £88 was received from a New York church the day before that set for the departure of the expedition. The plan of campaign (in addition to the work of Kirkland among the Senecas) called for the settlement of ‘Titus Smith at Onohoquaga, while Chamberlain was to hold a roving commission in the Mohawk Valley and among the Oneidas, preach- ing at various points, establishing schools and superintending their management. Eight Indian boys were also sent to the field to serve as schoolmasters. As time went on, reports of the activities of the party began to come back to Lebanon. Schools were readily accepted in many of the villages, but their success varied with circumstances. Some of the schoolmasters were active and self-reliant, some of them tended to lapse into idleness upon slight provocation and were easily discouraged at small obstacles. ‘The preaching of the missionaries was generally listened to by a portion of the villagers, but here again the effects were varying. Some of the reports were optimistic, some pessimistic, but all of them (except one which — asked for pork) were in agreement in stressing the need for money. No doubt the missionaries and schoolmasters needed the supply, but Wheelock had very little to furnish them. At Onohoquaga the anticipated success was not attained. ‘Titus Smith reached that point after some delay, but soon after his arrival another missionary ap- peared, sent out by the Boston Board. ‘The leaders of that society had been content to neglect the mission until they learned of Wheelock’s plan to enter the field. Then they bestirred themselves with unwonted activity, although the missionary whom they sent had not been informed of the real state of the situation and was much embarrassed at finding the post occupied. He spoke of Whee- lock’s efforts in terms of the highest praise and said that he never would have consented to enter the field had he known the real facts. Gunn, the interpreter, was under obligations to the Boston Board and felt obliged to transfer his allegiance to their agent. There was nothing for ‘Titus Smith to do except depart, which he did with the best grace he could muster. The Boston Board also sent a school-
ELEAZAR WHEELOCK AND HIS INDIAN SCHOOL 47
master, but, as he could not speak a word of the Indian language, Woolley was allowed to remain in the capacity of instructor until his death late in the year. Smith returned to Lebanon in the fall.
Chamberlain’s letters from the Oneida country fluctuated be- tween the extremes of optimism and pessimism. At times he com- plained that the Indians would not listen to his sermons, that the schools were falling off, that the schoolmasters would not obey his instructions, that they were indolent and were relapsing into sav- age ways. At other times the situation would seem more encourag- ing and the letters would assume a more cheerful tone. In the fall he came to Connecticut for a visit, but soon returned to his post for the winter.
At the beginning of the following year (1766) the progress of the enterprise was hampered by the retirement of ‘Titus Smith, who de- clined further service on the ground of ill health. Wheelock could find no one to take the vacant place. After sending Benjamin Pomeroy and his son, Ralph Wheelock, to Sir William Johnson on a reconnoitering expedition, he determined to put into the field, temporarily, his young English pupils, David McClure, Samuel Johnson, and Aaron Kinne, who were to teach school and, in the process, learn the Indian language. In the spring, Kirkland had returned from the Senecas to receive regular ordination. It was de- termined to withdraw him from that tribe and to establish him with Chamberlain among the Oneidas, as a more central and promising field and one which was to occupy him for nearly forty years. The schools were continued during the year much as usual, some of them fairly effective in their operation, some of them in a languishing condition. In the fall, however, Chamberlain found that he was sated with the career of a missionary and asked for dis- mission from the service.
Indeed, life among the Indians offered few attractions. Whether the “noble red men” ever had much nobility is a doubtful question; they certainly showed few indications of it after they had absorbed the vices of the whites. Periodic orgies of drunken revelry made life dangerous for the stranger in their midst. Frequent failures of their always meager crops, coupled with increasing scarcity of game, re- sulted in periods of starvation. Even in times of plenty, the nature
48 HISTORY OF DARTMOUTH COLLEGE
of much of their food and the method of preparation of all of it left much to be desired. Their frequent migrations for hunting and fishing made the maintenance of schools difficult and that of settled religious services uncertain. Moreover, the greater number of the savages were perfectly satisfied with their lives as they lived them. Their only anxiety was lest they should lose their lands to the whites, and they were suspicious of the advent of missionaries as the first step in that process. Chamberlain probably showed his unfitness for missionary work when he said, at the start of his career, “I hate the sight of such creatures. Pray for me that I may cheerfully exert my little strength to reform them”, but his expression was natural enough. In some cases even Wheelock’s Indian representatives found the customs of their wild brethren somewhat trying. David Fowler expressed his desire for a civilized helpmate in these terms;
I find it very hard to live without a Rib—for I am obliged to eat with Dogs, I say with Dogs because they are continually licking Water out of their Pots and Kettles. Yes I have often seen Dogs eating of their Victuals when they set their Dishes down. They would only make a little Noise to show their Displeasure to the Dogs and take up the Dish and finish off what was left, their Cooks are as nasty as Hogs; their Cloaths are as black & greasy as my Shoes; their Hands are dirty as my feet. But they clean them by kneading Bread; their hands will be very clean after they have kneaded 3 or 4 Loaves of Bread.
Others of the Indian schoolmasters felt no such qualms. They shed the veneer of civilization and relapsed into savagery with perfect content.
Nevertheless, at this time the results seemed as satisfactory as could have been expected. From two to four missionaries had been maintained among the savages for two years, and over a hundred Indian children had received instruction in mission schools. A firm foothold had been secured among the Oneidas. In fact, at this period it almost seemed as though the work of the school was about to be submerged in the work of the mission.
SK > HK > HK > KE Qe SK > SK SK SK SK SK SK
& £o % & & & & & & & & $7 57 % & $3 & 2 &
SK <P TK > TK > SK Ge SK Se SK Ge SK > SK > KK GK > K
CHAPTER II
The School Becomes a College
HE school and the missions had now reached a point in their development at which money was demanded in much larger quantities than previously had been re- quired. From the poverty of the Colonies it was hopeless to expect adequate support from America, but the great supplies of the motherland were, as yet, for the most part untapped. The interest of influential and wealthy citizens both of England and Scot- land had already been aroused, mainly through the efforts of White- field, but partly through the co-operation of the Scotch Society. Per- haps half the income which the school had enjoyed had come from across the sea. The effect produced by the story of the enterprise was so great, however, that more adequate financial assistance might be expected if organized efforts were made to obtain it. In 1764 Charles Jeffrey Smith wrote to Wheelock, ‘““When the Indian War is a little abated would it not be best to send Mr. Occom with an- other Person home a-begging? An Indian minister in England might get a Bushel of Money for the School”. ‘The idea seemed to be an excellent one, most of the friends of the school favored it and active preparations were entered upon at once to put it into effect. The greatest asset available to Wheelock for the success of this plan was Occom. The Indian was now forty-two years of age. He is described by the Reverend Daniel Waldo in the following terms:
He was about the medium height, had rather a round face and a bright intelligent expression, with a full share of the Indian look.
50 HISTORY OF DARTMOUTH COLLEGE
His voice was pleasant, but not very loud—sufficiently so, however, to accommodate an ordinary assemblage. His dress was entirely English. His manner in the pulpit, as I remember it, was serious and manly; and he spoke without notes and with a freedom which showed that he had a good command of his subject.
The advent of a native Indian with the garb, mannerisms, lan- guage and habits of thought of the Puritan minister must convince the most skeptical that the plan of Wheelock was a practical one. Nevertheless, the latter had certain misgivings, which he thus ex- pressed to Whitefield:
Iam concerned for Mr. Occom, he has done well and been useful as a Missionary among his Savage Brethren and what a figure he will make in London I can’t tell.
Moreover, some of the good Connecticut ministers feared he would desert to the Established Church as soon as he reached the other side. Again, an acute state of friction existed between Occom and the Reverend David Jewett, minister of the parish of which the Mohegan tribe was a part, mainly based, as nearly as can be gath- ered, on the fact that both whites and Indians tended to abandon Jewett’s services for those of his dusky rival. It was feared that this dispute, through representations of the white minister, might in- jure the school with the Boston Board. The controversy was thor- oughly investigated by the Connecticut Correspondents, with the result that all charges were withdrawn by Jewett, although with ex- ceedingly bad grace. Even more prejudicial to the success of Occom were certain activities of his in defence of the Mohegans, who were threatened by the loss of much of their lands to the whites; the so- called Mason controversy. Although the Indian seems to have been in the right, his action was highly unpopular in Connecticut and was likely to bring odium upon any cause with which he was asso- ciated. So strong was the feeling against him that the Connecticut Correspondents felt it inadvisable to give him credentials and he went simply as Wheelock’s personal representative. Nevertheless, the advantages to be gained by his participation in the work were so
THE SCHOOL BECOMES A COLLEGE 51
great that these objections could only be regarded by those inter- ested in the undertaking as of minor import.
The selection of the other member of the mission was a matter of oreater difficulty. It was Whitefield’s advice that Wheelock himself should go. ‘That undoubtedly would have been the best solution. His diplomatic skill unquestionably would have made the path of the mission smoother than it was, and it would have been much to the advantage of the school and college for the head of the insti- tution to have had a personal acquaintance with his sources of sup- ply. He felt, however, that no one else could be trusted with the management of his school; moreover that he was too old for such strenuous work. The choice then turned to Charles Jeffrey Smith, who declined on account of ill health. The Reverend John Brai- nerd, long a missionary to the Delaware Indians, was then thought of, but he was unable to secure a release from his engagement with the New Jersey Correspondents. After some consideration of the Reverend John Rodgers of New York, Wheelock’s mind began to turn to a rather amazing choice, the Reverend Nathaniel Whitaker of the sixth parish of Norwich, Connecticut.
Whitaker was a graduate of Princeton in the class of 1752. His personal appearance was exceedingly handsome, his manner in- eratiating and his bearing dignified and courtly. He bore the repu- tation of being an excellent pulpit orator. His interests were wide, he enjoyed mixing in the political agitations of the day, and even engaged in trade, somewhat to the damage of his prestige as a clergy- man. He possessed a sense of humor and was not afraid to use it, a trait which endears him to those whose duty requires them to peruse any considerable number of the letters of the New England clergy of the eighteenth century. On the other hand, he was continually the center of contention. Each of his numerous pastorates became an arena of bitter controversy, and the termination of the pastoral relation left the church divided and disorganized. As time went on, more serious charges were urged against him. Dr. Joseph Bentley of Salem, whose voluminous diary is an invaluable record of the vio- lence of personal controversy among the clergy of his time, calls him the “infamous Whitaker’ and says that he was “‘accused of being a frequenter of stews, of having debauched young women under pre-
52 HISTORY OF DARTMOUTH COLLEGE
tense of converting them, of fraud and lying”. This has a particu- larly evil sound, but to one who is acquainted with the general modes of expression of the diarist it may mean merely that Bentley, personally, was not fond of Whitaker. In any case, he seems a curi- ous choice for the mission, but one which, as the sequel will show, on the whole justified itself.
The selection was Wheelock’s own. His friends in New York were much averse to it and the Connecticut Correspondents were very doubtful of its expediency. They delayed action in the hope that Charles Jeffrey Smith could be induced to go. ‘To one correspond- ent Wheelock wrote:
We could find none who appeared to us more likely to serve the design than Mr. Whitaker. I am not insensible that he wants some desirable Qualifications, but he is endowed with others that are very good—and tt ts difficult to find.a Man in whom they all meet.
Whitaker, himself, was in no doubt about the matter. He was keenly eager to undertake the task and, even before the affair was settled, set out for New York, New Jersey and Philadelphia to secure recom- mendations for use in England. He also suggested schemes to Whee- lock by which the Correspondents might be brought to terms. In October, 1765, the matter was decided in Whitaker’s favor, al- though it was provided that Smith was to be added to the party if he could be induced to undertake the task. But the difficulties were not yet over. Whitaker’s wife became a decided obstacle to the plan, and the resulting domestic friction must have assumed serious pro- portions if we may judge from a letter to Wheelock written by the husband when matters began to turn his way:
I have great reason to adore Sovereign goodness that I am out of hell. O, how dreadful would it be to live eternally with such Spirits. But there is a word of grace. Mrs. W. night before last seemed to come down a little & began to contrive how affairs should be con- ducted when I am gone.
Difficulties also arose with the Norwich church, and all the compli- cated ecclesiastical machinery of the day had to be put in motion be- fore a satisfactory solution was reached.
THE SCHOOL BECOMES A COLLEGE 53
The agreement between Wheelock and his envoys provided that their expenses, as well as the support of their families in their ab- sence, were to be paid from the money which they should collect. One of Whitaker’s sons was to be maintained in the Charity School, as was Aaron, the oldest of Occom’s boys. No other compensation was provided, although, at the end of the journey each man, by vol- untary action, was given £100. They were armed with an im- posing series of credentials. ‘The greatest prominence was given to a rather lukewarm document from Sir William Johnson. Another recommendation was signed by General Gage, Commander-in- Chief of the British forces in America, the governors of Massachus- etts, New Hampshire, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and sixty-one other gentlemen of high rank in the Col- onies. Governor Fitch of Connecticut was responsible for a special testimonial commending Whitaker, and the school was highly praised in a document signed by twenty-five ministers of the same colony. One recommendation could not be secured. It was hoped that the Boston Board might be willing to indorse the undertaking. The journey was to start from that city and the envoys used the period of enforced delay, while waiting for their ship, in the attempt to obtain such approval. It was soon evident that enthusiasm for the undertaking was entirely lacking on the part of the men in control of the Board. Requests for support were received with cold polite- ness, evasive answers were given and difficulties were put in the way of positive action. One official of the group, indeed, was frank enough. According to Whitaker, “He said it was a bad Scheem and y‘ all Y° money in England wo'd not be Sufficient to execute your Scheem.” So on the 13th of December, 1765, the two men sailed for England without this particular recommendation.
‘Their passage was a pleasant one, lasting six weeks. On February 3, 1766, they landed at Brixham on Tor Bay, south of Exeter, and hastened at once to London, reaching that city on February 6. ‘They were lodged for the night at the house of Denis DeBerdt, but the next day they were received by Whitefield, at whose home they re- mained for two weeks. A house of their own was then provided, which they retained during their stay in England. A “pleasant maid” was installed in it to care for them. Occom kept a diary dur-
54 HISTORY OF DARTMOUTH COLLEGE
ing the early part of his stay, which conveys to us an excellent im- pression of the effect upon the red man of the stir and bustle of the metropolis. Evidently the friends of the cause exerted themselves in all possible ways to acquaint him with the sights of the city, and his wonder at his novel surroundings, together with the heavy moralizing which they induced in him, make interesting reading. He was at once introduced to Lord Dartmouth, “who appeared like a worthy Lord indeed. Mr. Whitefield says he is a Christian Lord and an UnCommon one.” The first Sunday in London was much of a shock to the simple Indian, so accustomed to the rigors of the New England Sabbath.
Last Sabbath evening saw Such Confusion as I never Dreampt of —there was some at Churches Singing & Preaching, in the Streets Some Cursing, Swaring & Damning one another, ther was hallow- ing, Whestling, talking, gigling, laughing & Coaches and footmen passing and repassing, Crossing and Cross Crossing and the poor Beggars Praying, Crying and Beging upon their knees.
Both Occom and Whitaker were invited to dinner almost daily by the “Religious Nobility and the best men of the City’. The Indian conducted himself with dignity and decorum. He was taken to see the royal prorogation of Parliament and describes the king as “quite a Comly man—his Crown is Richly adorned with Diamonds,” an observation which gives rise to moral reflections upon the superi- ority of a heavenly crown over that of any earthly monarch. The two envoys arrived at a fortunate time. The Stamp Act had been re- pealed just after their advent, and Whitaker describes the general satisfaction of London at the outcome, and the good feeling toward the colonists which followed, as a happy omen for the success of their cause. Occom visited Westminster Abbey, he saw in the Tower “the King’s Lions, ‘Tiggers Wolf and Leopards, the King’s guns and the muniments of antient Kings on Horse Back and their Soldiers on foot with their Antient Armour of Brass and Tin’; at Saint James he looked upon “the nobility in their shining robes” on the occasion of the Queen’s birthday. Whitaker and Occom were received by the Archbishops both of Canterbury and York, who ex-
!
THE SCHOOL BECOMES A COLLEGE 55
pressed much interest in their missions. Soon after, the expected attempt was made to deflect Occom from his Presbyterian affilia- tions and to induce him to accept Episcopal orders. He declined the offer with dignity, modestly telling the clergyman who pressed it, “T had no such view when I came from Home and added I had been Ordained Six Years in a Dissenting Way.” The proposal was made to secure for Occom an invitation to preach before the king, but there is no evidence that the attempt ever really succeeded. ‘These diversions in no way interfered with the main purpose of the mission. On February 16 Occom made his debut by preaching in the great tabernacle erected to accommodate Whitefield’s con- gregation. His success seems to have been instantaneous. His mod- est demeanor, his ease in the pulpit, his complete assumption of the role of the dissenting divine, the story which he had to tell, coupled with the fact that he was obviously an Indian, produced an effect which was irresistible. ‘The dissenting ministers vied with one another in pressing him to occupy their pulpits, and he never lacked for an audience on all occasions at which preaching services were held. He became, for the moment, a public character in Lon- don, rising even to the height of being burlesqued on the stage. “This evening,’ he wrote, “I heard the Stage Players had been Mimicking Me in their Play lately—I never thought I shou’d come to that Honour.” In April a pause was set to his activities by inocula- tion for smallpox, but he soon recovered and was as busy as ever. Nor does Whitaker seem to have been less effective, although in a different way. His pulpit appearances were constant, and he was successful in his appeals, although he lacked the natural advantages of the redskin. He was the manager of the enterprise, and was in- defatigable in utilizing every method of pushing it on. In particu- lar, he busied himself with private interviews with people of influ- ence and wealth, and his personal charm and ingratiating manner made his appeal highly effective. By this combination of efforts the undertaking became at once financially successful to an extent which must far have exceeded the most optimistic dreams of its supporters. ‘The appeal, nevertheless, was to a fairly limited class. The hierarchy of the Church of England, after a few vague promises of assistance, came to the conclusion that they were not interested
56 HISTORY OF DARTMOUTH COLLEGE
in Indian conversion unless the control of the process rested with them, and so gave no help whatever. It is to be remembered, how- ever, that Whitefield never severed his connection with the English church, and that many of his followers remained in that fold. The dissenters, in general, were sympathetic, although jealousies and divisions among them were a cause of embarrassment.
The course of the mission could hardly have been so smooth without careful preparation for it on the part of interested English- men. That interest was, of course, aroused by Whitefield, to whom the success of the enterprise was primarily due, but the actual con- duct of its affairs was largely directed by his followers, among whom four deserve especial mention. The most important, from the point of view of influence, was William, second Earl of Dartmouth, (1731- 1801). This young and opulent nobleman had followed a course not usual to those of his social class. Under the influence of the Countess of Huntington he had become interested in the Methodist move- ment and was finally reckoned as a devoted follower of Whitefield. Such eccentric behavior was beyond the understanding of his peers, who contemptously alluded to him as the “‘psalm singer.” He was not without friends, however. Perhaps the most devoted of them was George III, who avowed “how very dear he will always be to my heart” and said, when he was driven from office, ‘““What days has it Pleased the Almighty to Place me in when Lord Dartmouth can be a man removed but by his own request.’ Cowper alluded to him as ‘one who wears the coronet and prays.’’ He was President of the Board of ‘Trade from 1765 to 1766. Lord North was his kinsman, and under the administration of that nobleman he was Secretary of State for the Colonies from 1772 to 1775 and Lord Privy Seal from 1775 to 1782. It was through the influence of Lord Dartmouth that a donation of £200 was received from the king; a gift not only fi- nancially important, but which at once placed the enterprise under the most favorable auspices. Closer in his personal relations to Wheelock was John Thornton of Clapham, (1720-1790), a London merchant, who inherited a large property and who increased it by successful business dealings. He lived very simply, but his gifts for charitable purposes were estimated to amount to £3000 annually. Not only was he liberal in donations of money, but his sympathetic
THE SCHOOL BECOMES A COLLEGE 57
interest and discriminating advice made participation by him in any charitable enterprise important from other than merely the financial point of view. It is difficult to see how Wheelock could have carried the weight under which he labored in his later years without Thornton’s help. Others prominent in the work were Sam- uel Savage, about whom we know very little, but who was a constant correspondent of Wheelock’s, and Robert Keen, a woolen draper, who became secretary of the group and who devoted endless time to the necessary correspondence. In 1769 he wrote Wheelock that of the three years since Whitaker’s arrival he had put in at least one on the work of the trust. These persons, and others who were in- terested in the undertaking, were men of substance, of authority and of unblemished personal integrity, and their names gave high prestige to the enterprise. It was fortunate for Wheelock that their interest was so fully aroused. In addition, John Smith, Wheelock’s Boston friend, was in London at this time, and proved of great assistance.
At first, it was thought best to avoid formal incorporation or the establishment of a trust. Conservative men in England at this time were suspicious of such forms of organization as leading to “‘jobbs’”’, and all Whitaker’s London advisers were strongly averse to such a course. It was felt, moreover, that the founder of the school should be unhampered by responsibility to a foreign board. In place of a definite organization, it was agreed that those interested in the scheme should meet weekly for consultation and advice, and that they should serve as a Committee of Correspondence to receive donations and account for expenditure of the funds thus obtained. The sequel will show that this plan was entirely impracticable.
The work progressed successfully enough, but it was not without its periods of difficulty. It became apparent at once that all refer- ence in London to connection of the mission with the Scotch Society must be suppressed. Wheelock’s English friends would have nothing to do with the collection of money upon which that Society could, by any chance, lay its hands. As Whitaker’s commission was issued by the Connecticut Correspondents of that Society, the necessary suppression of that document left him without any authorization at all, except the personal one of Wheelock. ‘The matter was deemed
58 HISTORY OF DARTMOUTH COLLEGE
so important that Whitaker wrote in great haste to his patron, warn- ing him that in his letters no mention should be made of the Scotch organization. The result was to show that this deviation from the original plan was highly advantageous to the cause. A more impor- tant difficulty was the increasing prevalence of rumors derogatory to the mission which seemed to emanate from Boston. When these rumors were traced to their source, they were found to originate from a letter sent in October, 1765, by Andrew Oliver, Secretary of the Boston Board, to Mr. Jasper Mauduit, a governor of the parent organization in London. This communication announced the ap- proaching departure of the envoys and purported to tell all about them and their mission. After much difficulty, Whitaker was able to secure the privilege of having the letter read to him, but was denied permission to copy it. Most of the information in it was accurate, but the tone was one of supercilious superiority, and it contained one highly misleading statement, namely, that Wheelock had car- — ried Occom through New England, representing him to be a Mo- hawk, educated, civilized and Christianized in a short space of time, and thereby a shining example of the efficacy of the school. In real- ity, the letter went on to say, Occom was a Mohegan, exposed from birth to the Christian influences furnished by their own Board, and whose admirable qualities were, thus, by inference, to be credited to their efforts. So much of this assertion was untrue that disproof of it was easy, but it caused great irritation to Whitaker and especially to Occom, and some pertubation to Wheelock when he learned of it. As it apparently was having no effect in diminishing the flow of con- tributions, it was thought best to ignore it, to the disappointment of Whitaker who saw wasted thereby an excellent opportunity for a quarrel. ‘The importance of the incident consists merely in the evidence that it gives of the antagonism of the Boston Board to Wheelock’s enterprise, which from now on was constantly to be reckoned with. |
Perhaps this is as good a place as any to discuss briefly the differ- ences between these agencies devoted to the same pious ends. It is difficult to appraise the matter fairly. Undoubtedly the roots of the misunderstanding went back to the antagonism aroused by Whee- lock at the time of the Great Awakening. Theological differences
THE SCHOOL BECOMES A COLLEGE 59
were very serious matters in those days, and there is no doubt that an influential portion of the Boston clergy honestly regarded the Lebanon minister with deep distrust. In the early days, when his school was weak, they could afford to look upon him with a patron- izing tolerance and even to contribute toward his work; now that the institution promised to be important, they were reluctant to believe that so much should be accomplished by one whom they held in such low esteem. Moreover, his very success might be con- strued as a reflection on the efficiency of their own work. An atti- tude of antagonism was perhaps natural, but it is fair to say that the Boston group acted with what seems to be a petty jealousy, veiled in arrogance. Hitherto the tone of Wheelock had been conciliatory enough, but now a note of exasperation appeared in his letters, which finally rose to a violence devoid of dignity. At the end, neither of the contending parties showed much of the spirit of the Master they were supposed to serve.
No doubt private letters came from America which were even less restrained than the official communication discussed above. As a result, sharp antagonism to the mission was awakened in some quarters in England. Whitaker encountered such difficulties as the charge, made by a Bristol clergyman, of “lying and forgery, that he had no trust for the money collected and that he wondered people should give money to such men.” The Established Church had taken a definite stand. Most of their prelates were more reserved in their comments, but their ideas were perhaps definitely expressed by Dr. Warburton, Bishop of Gloucester. Of an interview with him Whitaker wrote:
He told me that we were Presbyterians—& that I went about in- flaming the people & making division & collecting money without any authority & was liable to be taken up & many other unmannerly & ill natured things he said & purely because you etc. are dissenters he wo’d do nothing, tho’ the wretch pillaged my Narrative to fill up his sermon, which I told him of yet he would not give a penny nor ask me to sit down.
Despite these obstacles, the work continued with success. When the collections in London began to slacken, Whitaker and Occom set
60 HISTORY OF DARTMOUTH COLLEGE
out, in August, 1766, for the west of England. Bristol was their prin- cipal destination, but they made long stops at Exeter and Bath, and so many one-day visits to villages and hamlets that one wonders that they were physically equal to the strain. One of their encounters on this journey was significant; at Bath they secured a subscription of £21 from young John Wentworth, newly appointed Governor of New Hampshire, concerning whom we shall in the future hear so much. The method of the envoys was dependent upon carefully planned introductions, distribution of copies of the 1766 Narrative, preaching in friendly churches, collections at the church door, and solicitation of subscriptions by personal interviews. ‘The results in the provinces were equally satisfactory to those in London. Whita- ker and Occom returned to the capital in December, after a fruit- ful journey of four months.
Before this, however, one of the obstacles to satisfactory collec- tions had been removed. The objection to the mission urged most often and most forcibly was that the envoys represented merely a private individual, with no assurance that the money would even- tually be spent for the purpose for which it was given. The in- formation of a trust would do away with that difficulty, and, more- over, as a continuing institution it would be in a position to receive legacies and other gifts which might be expected in the future. The necessity of such an organization finally became so clear that the managing group in London yielded to the force of circum- stances. A board of trustees was established, consisting of Lord Dartmouth, president, John Thornton, treasurer, Sir Charles Hot- ham, Bart, Samuel Roffey, Charles Hardy, Daniel West, Samuel Savage, Josiah Robarts, and Robert Keen, secretary. It was a repre- sentative organization, the intention being to include in the group members from each of the larger Protestant denominations. Hot- ham soon died and was succeeded by Baron Smythe, of the Court of Exchequer. In November Whitaker turned over to this board the power of attorney which he held from Wheelock and from them, in turn, received a commission under which he was henceforth to act.
The trustees, however, felt it necessary to base their activity on an authorization more definite than Whitaker’s power of attorney. They communicated with Wheelock, asking him to furnish them
THE SCHOOL BECOMES A COLLEGE 61
with a deed of trust. This request caused him much embarrassment. He was entirely dependent upon the new trustees for financial sup- port of his school; at the same time he was afraid that the control of the institution might pass completely into their hands, an out- come which would have done much to ruin the enterprise. If that result ensued, the danger existed that his supporters in America would abandon the school at once. Moreover, in the event of for- eign control, there would be little hope of securing from colonial sources the grants of land upon which he had set his mind, and the chance existed (although this seems to have affected Wheelock less than it did most of his friends) of the institution coming under Episcopal domination. It was a time for diplomacy, and Wheelock showed his skill in that art to its fullest extent. In all his relations with the English trustees, extending over the next ten years and bristling with dangerous points of controversy, he always obtained the ends which he sought, and he did so without in any way lessen- _ing their confidence in his integrity or his devotion to the cause, al- though, at times, they doubted his judgment. His letters were models of tact, suavely worded, accommodating in non-essentials, but rock-like in their firmness when matters which he deemed fun- damental were in question; a firmness the effect of which was not diminished by the courtesy of his language nor by the logic of his arguments. At first, in response to their request, he sent his personal power of attorney instead of a deed of trust. Keen, the secretary of the Board, replied that this arrangement was not satisfactory, and then set forth, in detail, exactly what they required. According to their opinion the English Trust, a self-perpetuating body, should have the power of honoring or refusing Wheelock’s drafts as its members saw fit. They stipulated, moreover, that Wheelock’s suc- cessor should be chosen by them, and they intimated that by will all the property of the school should be left to them, so that their _ control over the institution eventually would be complete. These terms were utterly inadmissible. All Wheelock’s American friends would have been alienated by such an arrangement, and there was no possibility of managing the enterprise successfully with the con- trolling power located three thousand miles away. Whitaker ad- vised his patron, however, to yield as far as he could and then to
62 HISTORY OF DARTMOUTH COLLEGE
set himself to the task of getting the money out of English hands as rapidly as possible. Savage, one of the trustees, gave council which was not essentially different. Wheelock took time to consider the matter from all points of view, with the aid of the best legal advice. No less than ten drafts of the deed were drawn before a satisfac- tory one was evolved. ‘The document, in its final form, set up two sets of trustees, one in England and one in America. The first of these boards was to have control of the money collected in England, was empowered to receive further funds from that source and to pass upon their expenditure. Its power of dishonoring Wheelock’s drafts was limited, however, to cases in which notice of the action was given in advance. The American Trust (chosen from among Wheelock’s ministerial friends) was to have custody of property obtained in America and responsibility for the actual management of school and missions. Wheelock was empowered by the deed to select his own successor, subject to the ratification of the English Trust. Future leaders of the school were to be nominated alternately by each of the two Trusts, the other board having the power of veto. It took a long time to make these arrangements and it was not until May 31, 1768, that the deed was finally transmitted to England, with a diplomatic letter explaining the provisions of the arrange- ment and the reason for their adoption. ‘The deed was accepted by the English trustees without comment or objection.
Whitaker and Occom remained in London until March, 1767, when they set out on an extensive journey through western Eng- land and into Scotland. ‘Times had become hard and subscriptions were collected with greater difficulty than before, but the journey was, nevertheless, a fruitful one. In the northern country the envoys acted under the auspices of the Scotch Society, under whose recom- mendation Whitaker had originally set out, and the officers of that institution and of the Scotch church seem to have done all in their power to make the mission successful. ‘The English ‘Trust did not approve of this change of base and in June peremptorily ordered Whitaker and Occom to return to England, on the ground that money collected in Great Britain should not be subject to the direc- tion of two distinct authorities. Instead of obeying, Whitaker sent a letter, not now preserved, which evidently appeased the English
THE SCHOOL BECOMES A COLLEGE 63
trustees, for Keen replied with a cancellation of their previous order. It seems, however, that the English group thought that the Scotch collections were to be turned over to them, a notion quite contrary to fact, as Wheelock found to his cost in the years to come. While they were in Scotland, machinery was set in motion to secure both for Wheelock and for Whitaker the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity. The University of Edinburgh was willing to honor the head of the school, but objected to conferring degrees upon two representatives of the institution. Whitaker was referred to St. An- drews, which was ready to give him the coveted distinction. Whee- lock evidently thought that the honor was well worth the contribu- tion of £10 (given, in the form of books, to the University library) then obligatory from recepients of such degrees. He was justifiably proud of the distinction and was never afterwards referred to by any of his followers except as ““The Doctor.”’ Late in July Whitaker and Occom visited the north of Ireland. They arrived, however, too
late for the meeting of the Presbyterian synod, at which they hoped for recognition and support, and found the field occupied by a person named Edwards who was collecting money for a Baptist college in Rhode Island (subsequently Brown University). As a result, they judged the time inopportune for pressing their own claims.
In the meantime an incident had occurred which greatly im- periled the good relations of Wheelock with his English friends. Before the departure of the mission, apparently some discussion had arisen among the members of the Connecticut Board of Corres- pondents concerning the best way by which to remit whatever funds might be secured. One of the members of the board, the Reverend Nathaniel Eells of Stonington, suggested that remittances should be made in the form of goods, thereby gaining for the school not only the funds themselves, but the profits which might be expected from such a business transaction. No definite action was taken, and Whee- lock, having no taste for business, was content to leave the matter in other hands. Upon his departure for the north of England, Whita- ker had left with Keen authority to open his letters so that pressing matters might receive immediate attention. Among the communica-
64 HISTORY OF DARTMOUTH COLLEGE
tions thus opened was an amazing series of letters from Eells. In one of them the latter
... advises that goods be bought, shipped to Mr. Joshua Lathrop & he will allow 4 the profit; lay the plan as particular as you please depend upon it Mr. W. & I shall joy’n in it—the larger the remit- tances are the better. Dear Sir pursue our original agreement & conduct the plan prudently, your family shall ever feel the benefit of it& my son may be brought into business with his Brother Lath- rop to my satisfaction & Comfort . . . our interest in this affatr 1.e. thine and mine shall be inseperable; goods are very scarce in the Colony & likely to sell upon a high advance. If you send f£ 3000 this fall and as much next spring they will sell speedily. By this means I hope to bring my Son Edward into Trade with his Brother Lathrop . this you may depend upon will be to the Emolument of your family and more so on account of what goods shall be purchased by moneys given to you for use of the School and if things turn our agreeable to expectation you may depend on my care to your profit to your full satisfaction . . . the truth 1s Mr. Wheelock though he will talk will not write in an affair of trade but chuses to refer to our determination.
It is not strange that the trustees were upset by this communica- — tion. As a result of it, they refused to honor a draft just received from Wheelock (an action which threw him into extreme financial embarrassment), they sternly demanded from Whitaker an account- ing for the drafts which they had already paid, and to Wheelock they expressed in vigorous terms their alarm at these clandestine dealings,
... which, had we been apprised of, we should have declined ac- cepting the Trust & we consider it in such an iniquitous light that tf itis not immediately put a stop to we shall decline acting further as Trustees for your school which we desire therefore you would see immediately done & then we shall rejoice to give you all the assist- ance-we can bring.
Whitaker was evidently able to demonstrate to the Trust that the drafts already paid had not been used for speculative purposes.
THE SCHOOL BECOMES A COLLEGE 65
Wheelock, when in the course of time a reply from him was re- ceived, admitted that there had been an idea of receiving remit- tances in the form of goods, that he, himself, was not a man of busi- ness and had taken no part in the affair, that all the drafts had been received and, except for £100 now in Fells’ hands, had been used for legitimate purposes of the school, that since the formation of the trust no one had any longer the idea of using the funds for trade, and that both Eells and Whitaker were men whose reputa- tions in Connecticut for probity and honor were beyond reproach. Fells’ defense was rather lame. He reiterated his opinion that shipment of the proceeds of the mission in the form of goods was a method highly advantageous to the cause. He maintained that his letters contained references to private business between him and Whitaker, having nothing to do with school funds, and thus con- veyed misleading impressions. His “‘care of Whitaker’s interest”’ was explained as a question of the latter’s relation to his Norwich par- ish. “Placing his son” was a method of promoting the interests of the school. If he found a profitable business opening, the boy, being under his father’s influence, could be relied upon to use that posi- tion to further the affairs of the school with a smaller demand for profit than the ordinary man of business would require. ‘The trus- tees were not favorably impressed by this explanation. However, as no harm had yet been done, they did not pursue the matter further, Keen wrote to Whitaker that “it has caused you a good deal of vexa- tion but all is finished & not to be mentioned or thought of more.”
It is evident that Eells was a clerical blunderer with an itch for business and excellent intentions toward the school, who was un- able to see why the advantage of that institution and of his own family should not be promoted simultaneously. Whitaker’s essential innocence of evil intent is apparent from the fact that he left his correspondence to be opened by the Trustees, although his ethical sense was evidently not of the keenest variety. By their action, how- ever, both these men lost the confidence of the trustees, who in- sisted that henceforth neither of them should have a share in the administration of the school. Thus Whitaker was deprived of any chance of becoming Wheelock’s successor, a position to which he had been appointed by the first will of the latter. The confidence
66 HISTORY OF DARTMOUTH. COLLEGE
of the trustees in the integrity of Wheelock himself remained un- shaken.
The two envoys made their way back to London through the eastern counties of England in the autumn of 1767. At the end, ap- parently they wore on each other’s nerves and Occom, on the plea of illness, abandoned the journey and came to the capital in Decem- ber, in advance of the time called for by their schedule. ‘They had now been away from home for nearly two years, their families were impatient at their long absence, and the men themselves were ready to return. In the spring of 1768 they set sail for home, apparently on different ships, and arrived in America in May.
Early in the mission Whitaker had set for himself a goal of £100 each week, a sum which was more than attained. The amount raised in England was £9497, sterling, while Scotland contributed £2520, making a total of £12026. The expenses amounted to about £500. Also to be deducted from the gross returns were the money ex- pended for the support of the families of the envoys and a gratuity of £100 awarded to each. But the net receipts were over £11,000, per- haps a greater sum than was secured by any other American educa- tional institution in Great Britain in pre-revolutionary days. The Narrative of 1769 gives complete details of the collections in Eng- land, though those in Scotland are not thus set forth. ‘The largest gift was one of £200 from the king. Of the trustees, Savage and Thorn- ton each gave £100, Dartmouth, Hotham and Roffey, £50, Hardy, Keen, and West, £25 and Smythe £6.6. ‘The only other large gift was £100 from Isaac Hollis, who was also a benefactor of Harvard. The nobility was poorly represented. Aside from the subscription of Lord Dartmouth, the Duke of Bolton gave 3 guineas, the Earl of Shaftsbury, 30 guineas, and the Marchioness of Rockingham, £10. ‘The Bishop of Derry gave 10 guineas, and ‘Thomas and Richard Penn, proprietors of Pennsylvania, £50. From Dr. Smith, Vice- Chancellor of Cambridge, came 10/6, while Merton College, Ox- ford, was more generous with a donation of 5 guineas. The Corpora- tions of Hull and of Newcastle-on-Tyne each gave 20 guineas. But most of the donations were small in amount and from persons un- known to fame. The total number of individual subscribers was 2169, while, in addition, collections were received in 305 churches.
THE SCHOOL BECOMES A COLLEGE 67
The number of communities in which contributions were obtained was 216.
It has been the tendency of those who have written of the English mission to minimize the value of Whitaker’s services to it. It is true that his peculiar characteristics were the cause of friction and that he accumulated abroad, as he did wherever he went, numerous enemies. It is true, also, that a number of letters from those whom he encountered in England refer to him in tones of sharp criticism. They may be matched, however, by many written in terms of high- est praise. The results, however, speak for themselves. As manager of the affair, his untiring energy, his pertinacity, his devotion to the cause must have contributed highly to its success. Perhaps no man could have done more; it is doubtful if many could have done as much. Throughout Wheelock’s life he remained the friend of the school and was frequently called, at critical times, to its assistance. The contribution of Occom to the work is obvious enough. He was the factor really indispensable to the success of the enterprise. His connection with Wheelock, however, terminated at this point. Dis- putes arose upon his return in regard to the expenses of his family, which Wheelock charged him with collecting both at home and from the Trust. Moreover, he had changed as a result of his experi- ence abroad, and was now less subject to control than he had previ- ously been. Wheelock wished him to return as a missionary to the Six Nations and Occom, while he did not definitely decline to serve, put obstacles in the way of the plan. He evidently preferred to act as an itinerant preacher to the New England Indians. He was thus left without means of support, for he had broken with the Boston Board, which was in charge of the New England field, and Whee- lock would not trench upon its preserves. He fell into great poverty and occasional intemperance. His English friends were much con- cerned about him. ‘Thornton made repeated contributions for his support and finally the English Trust, without consulting Whee- lock, voted him an annuity of £50, a resource which did not last long owing to exhaustion of the fund. In 1772 he was called upon to preach a sermon on the occasion of the execution of an Indian named Moses Paul, who had, while drunk, killed one of his com- peers, a crime for which he was condemned to die. As a powerful
68 HISTORY OF DARTMOUTH COLLEGE
temperance tract it was deemed worthy of publication and is said to have run through nineteen editions. Occom never seems to have visited Hanover. Just before the Revolution he formed the plan of migrating with a selected group of Indians from various New England tribes to the country of the Oneidas, a tribe from which he had succeeded in obtaining a grant of land; there to live on their own soil, undisturbed by the proximity of the whites. David Fow- ler, Jacob Fowler and Joseph Johnson, also products of Wheelock’s school, were associated with him in the enterprise. The war inter- rupted the movement, but it was successfully carried out after hostilities were over. The town of Brothertown was founded by the emigrants and in that vicinity Occom ended his career, a leader in successfully maintaining Indian rights against white aggression. He died in 1702.
While these events were taking place in England, what were the activities of Wheelock on this side of the water? ‘The school con- tinued its usual course. In 1766 a pupil of distinguished ancestry came to it; no less a person than one of Sir William Johnson’s numerous natural sons by his Indian mistress, Mary Brant, sister of Joseph. ‘The boy was haughty and difficult to control, however, and soon, with his father’s consent, was sent home. Recruits began to come from the Oneida tribe through the influence of the mission established at that point. White boys were taken upon the founda- tion in increasing numbers; among them, in 1766, Levi Frisbie, of Branford, Connecticut, and in 1767 Sylvanus Ripley, of Halifax, Massachusetts, who later are to play important parts in this story. In December, 1767, five of Wheelock’s English pupils were being maintained at Yale, viz. Johnson, McClure, Avery, Frisbie and Mather. Arrangements had been made with that institution where- by one-half the tuition charge was waived, in view of the fact that the boys were supported by charity. The finances of the school were more prosperous owing to the influx of English funds, upon which Wheelock began to draw as soon as any collections were made. Both Boston grants, however, were discontinued, and at one time the refusal of a bill in London temporarily plunged Wheelock into serious financial difficulties. Fortunately this bill was eventually honored and matters ran smoothly once more. Despite his increased
THE SCHOOL BECOMES A COLLEGE 69
resources, he was beginning to feel the load upon him. He wrote thus to Keen:
You will consider that I am Wholly alone in the Whole affair. Whatever concerns the Missionaries, School Masters in Y° Wilder- ness—the Collegians—the Male and female Schools at Home—all lie upon me—and besides all this I cant yet get my people willing that I should be discharged from my care of them—besides the Busi- ness of my Farm upon which I chiefly depend, and God, for the Support of my Family.
It was perhaps well that he did not know that his burdens would increase rather than lighten as old age came on. In 1768 the number of his Indian students began to decline and in January, 1769, it suffered an abrupt drop when the father of one of his Oneida boys came to Lebanon, in the dead of winter, and took home all the representatives of that tribe, six in number, leaving but three In- dians in the school. The reasons given by the father for this step _ could only be regarded as frivolous. It was a hard blow to Whee- lock, particularly as a religious revival was under way, with excel- lent prospects of conversions among the aborigines. Later he re- garded it as a dispensation of Providence, in view of his approaching removal to Hanover. It really marked a stage of the disappearance of his influence with the Six Nations.
In the previous chapter the story of the missions was carried through the year 1766. Chamberlain resigned early in 1767, leav- ing Kirkland as Wheelock’s only regular representative among the Six Nations. The success of that missionary with the Oneidas was even greater than with the Senecas. He was even able to make a compact with the chiefs of the village whereby he was vested with authority to smash any liquor-containing receptacles which should be found within the domain of the tribe. It is true that, at times, when strange Indians appeared as conveyers of spirits, an attempt to carry out this process resulted in contention and the missionary was compelled to tread warily until the affair blew over. In general, however, his influence with the savages was sufficiently potent to make his presence among them highly effective for good. Wheelock regarded him as his greatest asset and made the most of his success to
70 HISTORY OF DARTMOUTH COLLEGE
his English friends. He wrote to Keen, “He is doing more for the cause of Christ than perhaps some Scores of Clergymen who live at ease and have their £100 sterling per annum.” In addition, five Indian schoolmasters were still in the field, but it was becoming evident that their reliability was open to serious question. During 1767 Wheelock limited his activities to the Oneida mission, not only because he could find no one willing to take up the task of missionary work, despite all his endeavors, but even more because the Church of England was promising to send eight missionaries and eight schoolmasters to the Six Nations. He was content, for the time, to sit back and watch their efforts, probably convinced that suitable candidates of that denomination could not be found (which proved to be the case) and unwilling, by competitive ef- forts, to antagonize Sir William Johnson, who might be expected to favor the activities of his own church. ‘To do Wheelock justice, moreover, he was, for the times, singularly free from denomina- ~ tional jealousy, and placidly unmoved by his ministerial colleagues who put themselves into a fret lest some measure of Episcopal influence should insinuate itself into the missionary field. His atti- tude is fairly represented by the following letter to President John- son of King’s College (afterwards Columbia):
I think intirely with you as to the necessity of concealing from the Pagans all differing Sentiments in matters of Religion among ourselves; and that the contrary would be a most fatal Stumbling Block in the way of those poor blind Creatures, and accordingly never any of my School have yet heard me Speak a Word of any differences excepting Papists. When I have Spoken to any of the Six Nations (as I have sometimes had occasion) of the Labours of Dr. Berkeley & Mr. Oglevie I have always Spoken of them (and that too without any Dissimulation) with the greatest Approbation & Esteem. When they have mentioned Some Differences as to forms and modes I have told them we are all agreed they are not Essential —that those Gentlemen were my Brethren, faithful Ministers of Christ, and taught them the Same Way of Life truly as we were teaching them.
THE SCHOOL BECOMES A COLLEGE 71
In October, 1767, the best of the Indian schoolmasters, David Fowler, wearied with life in the Indian country, returned from Oneida to take charge of a school near his home on Long Island. He thus passed from Wheelock’s control. Phineas Dodge, a white lad, was sent to take his place. Another of his Indian proteges, Joseph Johnson, from whom much was expected, was proving unsatisfac- tory, and Kirkland appealed to Wheelock to send him no more In- dian schoolmasters. In February, 1768, having made a journey of three hundred miles on foot in seven days, Johnson appeared in Lebanon with alarming news. Kirkland was so ill that there was little expectation of his recovery, and Dodge, weighed down by re- sponsibility, was appealing for help. Wheelock at once dispatched his son, Ralph, his pupil, Allyn Mather, and a physician, Dr. Hunt- ington, to the rescue. The medical man was taken ill on the way and was obliged to return, but the others went on. In the latter part of March they reached Oneida and found Kirkland somewhat better; so much recovered, in fact, that on the next day he and Dodge set out for New England, leaving Ralph, much to his perturbation, surrounded by Indians and with no experienced white companion.
Ralph Wheelock played an important part in the events of the period and did much to accentuate the difficulties which were to ensue. As a boy he showed much mental promise, but even then was unfortunately afflicted with epilepsy. Although much hindered by his infirmity, he managed to make his way through college, at- tending first Princeton and then Yale, and being graduated from the latter institution in 1765. His career was a pathetic one. Fre- quently incapacitated by ill-health for long periods, his letters to his father show an intense but continually disappointed desire to contribute material assistance to the work in which the older man was so absorbed. At the time in question, however, Ralph was capable of considerable activity. He was used by his father to care for the details of school management, and on a number of occasions was sent on missions to the Indian country and elsewhere. His natural disposition, modified for the worse, perhaps, by his physical infirmities, did not fit him for the responsibilities with which he was entrusted. He was harsh and overbearing in his treatment of the Indian students, while among the wild tribes his dictatorial
72 HISTORY OF DARTMOUTH COLLEGE
manner was such as to arouse sharp antagonism. Desirous of eventu- ally succeeding to his father’s position, he was in the habit of stress- ing his authority as heir-apparent, nor could he conceal his jealousy of any whom he felt might be his rivals. His father, with a parent’s partiality, seemed oblivious to these defects, and in defense of his son was led into untenable positions and unnecessary controversy. After removal of the school to Hanover, Ralph’s physical condition became such as to make it impossible for him to take any part in its affairs, and the latter years of his long life were spent in mental darkness. |
Left in Oneida without responsible guidance, Ralph set himself to the task of consolidating the position which Kirkland had gained, and even of extending the scope of the work by a visit to the neigh- boring tribe, the Onondagas. Upon his return to Lebanon he sub- mitted a report concerning the situation and its possibilities, which offered great encouragement to the older man. ‘The information, as a matter of fact, was entirely inaccurate. The tension between Wheelock and Kirkland, soon to become acute, apparently began at this point. The physical condition of the missionary made it evident that he must remain in New England for the summer, and Whee- lock began frantically to search for a substitute. He was utterly unable to find any person suitable for the mission and was com- pelled to send, on temporary appointment, one of his charity stu- dents, Aaron Kinne. The latter soon returned, however, because of ill health and failure to obtain an interpreter. ‘To add to the difficulty, at about this time the Indian schoolmaster at Oneida, Joseph Johnson, returned under disgraceful circumstances which indicated that he was lost to the cause. We next hear of him engaged in a long ocean voyage as a common sailor. His subsequent recovery belongs to a later part of this story. As a last resort, another charity student, David Avery, was sent to Oneida as a schoolmaster, but the promising mission was unprovided with a really responsible director for the greater part of the year.
In the fall of 1768 news came to Wheelock of an Indian Congress called by Sir William Johnson to meet at Fort Stanwix; the largest gathering of the kind yet held on the American continent. The purpose of the conference was to set up a fixed and permanent
THE SCHOOL BECOMES A COLLEGE 73
boundary between the lands of the Indians and those of the whites. Sir William had formed a definite idea of the position of a line which should be fair to both parties and he believed, if no untoward event should arise, that an agreement could be reached which would be satisfactory to all. Not only were multitudes of Indians in attendance, but the official representatives of the colonies of Penn- sylvania, New York and New Jersey, as well as many private in- dividuals, who had provided themselves with money and bales of goods as an inducement to the Indians to sell their lands. Only Con- necticut, which had some claim on portions of the territory in ques- tion, was unrepresented, much to the satisfaction of her rival col- onies. It was of the highest importance to Wheelock that the interest of his school should receive due attention at this meeting. He ex- erted himself diligently to obtain a proper agent, pressing the mis- sion especially upon Charles Jeffrey Smith. ‘The outcome, however, was that he had to be content with what he could get, and the representative whom he secured was unsatisfactory enough. He was the Reverend Jacob Johnson, of Groton, a curious person of mysti- cal habits of mind, who had strong ideas concerning right and wrong but little conception of the arts of diplomacy. ‘The envoy was met at Fort Stanwix by Avery, and the two were received by Sir William Johnson with a courtesy that was tempered by some degree of coldness. Jacob Johnson began his diplomatic career by giving unnecessary offense to the gentlemen present at a large din- ner by an ill-advised and unmannerly response to the toast to the king. Almost at once he became a subject of ridicule by his per- sonal peculiarities and his extravagances of speech. Having thus attracted the attention of everyone to himself, he set about the self- appointed task of circulating among the Indians with the advice that they should not yield an inch in the matter of ceding their lands. Not content with this, he presented a formal memorial to the Com- missioners, asking that no more Indian land should be taken over. Evidently he had come to the Congress imbued with the idea that the red men were to be cheated; a point of view that was, perhaps, not unreasonable in the light of the usual practice in conferences of this kind. But it happened that Sir William Johnson was eminently fair in his dealings with the savages, and as regardful of their
7 4. HISTORY OF DARTMOUTH COLLEGE
interests as of those of his own race. The arrangement which he had in mind he considered important in settling questions which had long been acute, a settlement which would be highly advan- tageous to the tribes. He had gone to much trouble properly to prepare the way. This arrangement Jacob Johnson set himself to wreck. A man of more weight might have gone far toward doing it, but the Connecticut minister was so insignificant that the only result of his efforts was to bring odium upon the school whose agent he was. This unfortunate impression was accentuated by the fact that he managed so to bungle matters as to make it appear that Wheelock was desirous of securing from the Indians some of the lands which he was advising them not to give to others. Avery, finding out how matters were going, informed Wheelock of the difficulty and the latter, in hot haste, despatched a second envoy, the Reverend Ebenezer Cleveland, to repair the damage. The latter arrived too late to be of service, but in time to be scared nearly into fits by the orgy among the savages which marked the close of the Congress. Sir William Johnson was much irritated. He wrote to General Gage:
To add toall this two New England missionaries came up, one of whom was strongly recommended to me by Dr. Wheelock of Con- necticut and did all in their power to prevent the Oneidas—from agreeing to any Line that might be deemed Reasonable. They had even the face in opposition to his Majesty's Commands & the desires of the Colonies to Memorial me Praying that the Inds might not be allowed to give up far to the North or West but to reserve it for the Purposes of Religion—and publicly declared to sev' Gentlemen there that they had taken infinite pains with Inds to obstruct the Line & would Continue to do so. The New Englanders have had Missionaries for some time among the Oneidas and I was not ig- norant that their old pretentions to the Susquehanna Lands was their Real, tho’ Religion was their assumed object, but knowing that any steps I could take with these Mission® would from the Ind: conceptions be deemed violent I treated them with silent contempt. Tho’ I think you should know these Circumstances & the Govern- ment & Public in Gen! should see in what manner their favors &
THE SCHOOL BECOMES A COLLEGE TAG
Indulgences are made use of by this Gentry of which I co* give many Instances being possessed of their secret instructions & many other very extraordinary papers.
A large part of this statement was unfair, but, as a whole, it repre- sented Sir William’s honest opinion of the issue. At first, Wheelock thought the fiasco not to be of serious importance. He wrote Jacob Johnson concerning it, “I ha’nt so much concern about it as to spend time to hear it, if you were here.” But in the course of time communications began to come to him from England, including letters from Lord Dartmouth and Keen, describing the disrepute into which the institution had fallen in governmental circles in the motherland as a result of representations sent home by colonial officials. Much alarmed, Wheelock endeavored to remove the bad impression. Ina letter to Sir William he disavowed all responsibility for the ‘wild, distracted, stupid, headlong conduct” of his envoy,and asserted that he gave him no instructions except those having to do with the school. No direct reply was received, but through a friend, who interviewed Sir William, he learned that the latter did not charge to Wheelock the responsibility for his envoy’s erratic be- havior. He did believe, however, that there was a design to obtain Indian land for the school. Moreover, he took advantage of the opportunity to give his opinion of Wheelock’s efforts. He had a low opinion of the missionaries, and thought that they did no service, that the Indians were not bettered by them, in fact, as a result of their efforts, their charges became lazier than ever. ‘The boys who had been trained in the school were little improved in learning or in morality, nor was it possible to make farmers out of them because they were too lazy and violent. With this candid and unpalatable avowal came the end of Sir William Johnson’s co-operation and with that, the end of much hope of success of educational and mis- sionary efforts among the Six Nations.
Kirkland returned to Oneida in October, 1768. His health was still unsatisfactory and he had been instructed to come back to New England after a short stay in the Indian country, but he remained with his charge through the winter. For a time Jacob Johnson was with him. With this second sojourn of Kirkland among the Oneidas
76 HISTORY OF DARTMOUTH COLLEGE
began a state of tension between him and Wheelock, which «in- creased until it became a feeling of acute dissatisfaction and finally culminated in an entire break in their official relations. Much has been written concerning the controversy, into the details of which — we shall not venture. In general, the weight of blame has been placed upon Wheelock, but it does not seem clear that it should not be more evenly distributed. It is true that Wheelock was responsible for the dissatisfaction which developed as a result of his paternalis- tic ideas of government. That conception was to bring to him trouble in the college, it was to cause even more to his son, John, but it was his honest conception of the way in which an educational institution should be managed. Kirkland had been taken by him when a boy in abject poverty. ‘Through subscriptions, he had pro- vided the means for his education and had assumed responsibility for his maintenance; in return he demanded the filial obedience which an eighteenth century father required of his son. It was not to be expected that a mature man, conscious of work well and in- dependently done, should remain for any long period acquiescent to such requirements; obviously he would seek independence and initiative of his own. It is usually said that Kirkland did not receive proper support. That hardly seems to have been the case. Whee- lock’s letters to him are full of plans for his maintenance, arrange- ments for the transfer of money (not a simple matter in those days), suggestions for a comfortable house and other forms of material aid. After the English collections began to come in, plenty of money was at hand and Wheelock was never reluctant to use it. The real difficulty seems to have been that the money, however liberally given, was in the nature of a dole; that Kirkland was dependent on whatever Wheelock should allow him, and had no fixed income which he could call his own. When the English Trust, of its own initiative, settled upon him £100 a year, Wheelock delayed giving effect to the arrangement. Later, he maintained that this delay was because he considered the stipend insufficient, that he thought £150 the proper amount, but before arranging for a grant so large, he wished to secure the approval of disinterested parties. That state- ment, however, was advanced after the final break had come. In his relations with Kirkland, Wheelock undoubtedly was misled by his
THE SCHOOL BECOMES A COLLEGE 7]
son, Ralph. The antagonism existing between the two young men was deep-seated, and in it the missionary had real cause for resent- ment. Some years elapsed before the father learned the facts of the matter, and, even then, he was loath to give credence to the truth. It seems probable that a definite feeling of antagonism arose as a re- sult of the succession to the leadership of the school. ‘The English Trust had incautiously stated that Kirkland seemed best fitted for the future management of the enterprise, a suggestion which Whee- lock had repelled with the assertion that Kirkland was too young and too useful where he was. But it may be that the suggestion rankled and was turned to the disadvantage of him in whose favor it was made. There seems to be little doubt that this was the real cause of the hostility of Ralph Wheelock.
On the other hand, to Kirkland must be assigned some share of the blame. He seems to have been a sensitive person who brooded over his grievances in secret and was ready to discuss them only with individuals who had no real interest in the matter. It seems to be a fact that throughout the disagreement Wheelock never could find out exactly what were the grievances under which Kirk- land thought he suffered, nor exactly what measures he wished taken to remedy them. Wheelock’s own letters were perfectly clear; one could tell from them exactly what he meant, but of Kirkland’s part of the correspondence that cannot be said. In December, 1769, answering a letter of Kirkland in which certain “remittances” and “difficulties” were darkly alluded to, Wheelock asks “what remit- tances?” and ‘“‘what difficulties?” and said he “would like to be told not by dark hints, half sentences & unintelligible innuendoes but in plain language writ so plain that I and everybody else who read it may know what you mean.” But he got only evasive answers or none at all. It is obvious that, under these circumstances, rumor, statements transmitted through many mouths and in the process garbled out of all recognition to truth, assumed the preponderant place in the controversy. It seems probable that at any time the mat- ter might have been settled by a half-hour’s frank conversation; the evidence likewise seems to show that to Kirkland alone must be assigned the responsibility that such an interview took place only when it was too late.
78 HISTORY OF DARTMOUTH COLLEGE
The reader may wonder why so much space has been given to this quarrel. In truth, its effect on the school seemed at the time to be of vital importance. Kirkland’s work was the great asset of the institution and a break with him would bring in its train the most serious consequences. So thought Wheelock, and even more con- vinced of it were his solicitous friends. ‘The general opinion was expressed by Charles Jeffrey Smith, who gave warning that the de- fection of Kirkland would be the worst blow that the school could suffer and that it might well be fatal to the cause. At all odds, he said, the dispute must be settled. In the next chapter we shall see what the outcome really was.
By this time sufficient experience with the employment of the Indians in school and mission was at hand to permit definite con- clusions to be formed concerning the theory under which Whee- lock had established his enterprise. ‘That conclusion, best given in Wheelock’s own words (taken from the Narrative of 1771), was not | entirely satisfactory;
I have turned out 40 Indians who were good readers, writers and were instructed in the principles of the Christian religion, suffi- ciently advanced in English grammar, arithmetic and anumber con- siderably advanced in Latin & Greek, one of them through college, others carried through a course of learning as expensive as a college course. Well behaved while with me and left school with unblem- ished character. Many of them went at once into a business they were qualified for, mostly as school masters and interpreters; but by contact with the vices of their tribes (mostly drunkeness) not more than half perserved their characters unstained. The rest are sunk into as low, savage and brutish a way of living as they were before and many of the most promise have fallen lowest. And six of those who did preserve a good character are now dead. Most of them run their schools well for the first year but when they are broken up by hunting parties etc. have not enough energy to reas- semble them.
It was evident to Wheelock that his original scheme, involving re- liance upon Indians as missionaries, was a failure, and that not much more could be expected of them as schoolmasters. As a result
THE SCHOOL BECOMES A COLLEGE 79
of this conviction, from this time the emphasis of his undertaking and his mode of procedure were profoundly changed.
The record of the school and the mission during these years evidently was not entirely satisfactory. Nevertheless, the enterprise had encountered only a temporary check, or, rather, a pause before proceeding in a different way but with renewed vigor to larger things. ‘The question pressing for settlement was the direction which Wheelock’s endeavors, now provided with adequate financial backing, should take, and, in particular, what should be the new site of the school.
As a matter of fact, the question of location had been under con- sideration for a number of years. Wheelock had early turned his attention to the possibilities offered by the valley of the Susque- hanna. Jn 1763, General Phineas Lyman, one of his Connecticut friends, had gone to England with the purpose of obtaining a large grant of land in the Indian country, and had remained there, with- out result, for eleven years, cooling his heels in court, but always imbued with a Micawber-like optimism that he was just on the point of securing his quest. At his departure he offered to include Wheelock’s requests with his own. ‘The matter had no practical im- portance, as no land was ever secured, but the specifications filed by Wheelock at this time give definite information of the grandiose nature of the plan he had in mind. It was no less than the grant of an area of land go miles on a side, in the center of which, on a tract of 1000 acres devoted to its use, was to be located the institution, partly a college for the education of missionaries, interpreters and schoolmasters, partly a school for teaching “writing and whatever is useful to boys and girls.”’ ‘The remainder of the grant, divided into suitable townships, was to be assigned to inhabitants carefully se- lected for sobriety, frugality, industry and piety, with a settled min- ister in each town. Every third township, however, was to be re- served for Indians, “‘so that as soon as they are willing to come into such a way of living, the opportunity will await them.” Wheelock never had the slightest prospect of obtaining so extensive a grant, but in all his subsequent plans elements of the ideas here presented are to be found.
8o0 HISTORY OF DARTMOUTH: COLLEGE,
In the years which followed a great variety of sites were suggested and some definite offers were received. ‘The Reverend John Cleve- land, of Ipswich, thought well of the region around the Bay of Fundy, while Charles Jeffrey Smith presented rather convincing arguments in favor of North or South Carolina. Between these ex- tremes numerous localities received more or less serious considera- tion. Occom called attention to the advantages of Long Island as a place ‘“‘handy to oysters & clams, so much of the youths’ living might be obtained therefrom.” More serious was the offer by Governor Benning Wentworth, in 1763, of a tract of land in the western part of New Hampshire, in the territory called Cohos.' In 1765 a sub- scription of £567 was raised among the inhabitants of Lebanon to re- tain the institution in that town, the money to be used for building a house. Attention was also called to the fact that a farm, suitable for the school, could be obtained for (£50. The adjoining town of Hebron, with true neighborly spirit, offered £1000 for its removal to that site and Wheelock was put to some trouble to prove that he was not instrumental in fostering the latter subscription with the purpose of egging on the former one. ‘“‘Large subscriptions” were said to be obtainable for settlement on the Kennebec River. It also became evident that offers would be made by individuals in the city of Albany. A site was thought of in the undeveloped country on the Ohio River, below Pittsburgh. In 1767 the New Hampshire offer was increased to a township, six miles square. Nothing, how- ever, was volunteered in the region upon which Wheelock had really set his heart, the Wyoming Valley in Pennsylvania.
In 1768 the matter emerged from the stage of vague discussion to that of definite action. An institution with an endowment of £10,000, sterling, was a prize for any community in those days, and accordingly competition for the school became keen. Certain re- quirements were considered by Wheelock to be indispensable in any offer to be considered. ‘They may be summarized as follows: (1) A large area of land for the support of the school and for the train- ing of the students in husbandry. (2) ‘The establishment of the in- stitution in an independent parish, which should give to the school
*In the documents of the time this name was spelled Cohos, Cohas, Cowas, and al- most every other imaginable way except the one now accepted, Coos.
THE SCHOOL BECOMES A COLLEGE 81
authorities legal control over the immediate neighborhood. (3) Accessibility to large bodies of Indians. (4) The region round about must be inhabited by sober and pious people. (6) Provision for the expenses of removal and for the maintenance of Wheelock and his family after settlement.
The inhabitants of Lebanon had apparently reached the limit of their financial resources in their first offer. ‘They did, however, file with Wheelock a letter of appeal in which they called attention to the fact that the removal of the school would also deprive them of
...0ur Minister the light of our Eyes and joy of our Hearts under whose Ministrations we have Sat with grate delight, whose Labours have been so acceptable and we trust profitable for a Long Time; must then our Dear and worthy Pastor and his pious Institution go from us together? Alas shall we be deprived of both in one Day: we are Sensible that we have abused such Privileges and have forfeited them, and at God’s Bar we plead guilty—we pray him to give us Re- pentance and Reformation to Lengthen out our happy State—we own the Justice of God in so heavy Loses if they must be inflicted and even in the Removal of our Candlestick out of its Place but we Can’t bear the thought that You Our Dear Pastor and the Dear Friends to your Institution Should become the Executioners of such a Vengeance.
This letter is said to have stirred the English trustees to tears. ‘They reported to Wheelock that, as a result of its moving effect, their decision would have been in favor of Lebanon had they not been told that most of Wheelock’s flock, in all probability, would follow him to the new site. One hesitates to hint that perhaps the removal of their “candlestick” affected the good Connecticut people less than the removal of the financial advantage which might result from the definite establishment of the institution in their midst, but at least it may be said that if the trustees had been able to read cer- tain other communications between Wheelock and his flock, they might have reserved their tears for some other occasion.
An offer from Albany seemed an attractive one. It included six acres of land on a site overlooking the city. Upon the land was a building, 132 by 42 feet, containing sixteen rooms with fireplaces,
82 HISTORY OF DARTMOUTH COLLEGE
the whole being valued at £2300. Albany had the advantage of be- ing near the Six Nations, it was the seat of many of their conferences, but was too remote to be in danger from Indian uprisings. ‘The neighborhood was well settled, provisions were plentiful, a large church was available, and many children of the city would be glad to become paying pupils of the school. On the other hand, no con- siderable supply of land was included in the offer, nor was there any chance for an independent parish. ‘The location was rather too near the Indians, so that the boys might run home too easily. In any case, it was doubtful if the work in the future was to be with the Six Na- tions. There was no certainty that incorporation could be secured. Moreover, for some reason, Wheelock was unfavorably impressed with the moral character of the people of Albany and was afraid that their influence on his students would not be good. “I have enough to do” he said, “‘in one of the most religious Societies of the land to prevent the pernicious influence of bad men.”
At this point Colonel Partridge of Hatfield, Massachusetts, brought to Wheelock’s attention the advantages of township num- ber 2 (Pittsfield) in the Berkshires. An offer was made of three thou- sand acres of land and £600 sterling. The land was good, the site, advantageous for communication with the Indians, was on one of the public roads leading from Albany to Boston. As Governor Bern- ard was financially interested in the township, it was hoped that a legal incorporation might be secured through his influence. Whee- lock, however, had no illusions on that point. He called attention to the obstacle presented by the hostility of leading citizens of Bos- ton to all his enterprises, and the probability, moreover, that Harv- ard would oppose the incorporation of another college in the prov- ince.
In New Hampshire, Governor John Wentworth promised the grant of a township of land, and the definite grant of a charter. No college existed in the province, so opposition based on institutional jealousy was not to be feared. Ex-Governor Benning Wentworth renewed his offer of five hundred acres of land, and from various private sources large areas (estimated to amount to fifteen thou- sand acres) could be relied upon. Land in the upper Connecticut valley (which had been opened for settlement only after the de-
THE SCHOOL BECOMES A COLLEGE 83
parture of the French from America) was considered to be highly fertile and settlers were swarming into it, the majority of them from Connecticut. Over two hundred townships had been char- tered in the valley and west of it within eight years. The country was somewhat remote from the Six Nations, although forty miles nearer to them than was Lebanon, but it was relatively near the Indian tribes of Canada. Although the country was in the rapid process of settlement, it was yet much of a wilderness, and its inhab- itants were supposed to be in a dangerous position should hostili- ties break out with the tribes to the north.
A Pennsylvania site, undoubtedly Wheelock’s real choice at this time, did not seem to be available. In September, 1768, Wheelock sent Whitaker to Philadelphia to investigate its possibilities. He found that the resident governor, Penn, had no authority to make a special grant without reference to the Proprietors of the Colony in England, and the only recourse was a memorial to them. It be- came evident, upon investigation, that little likelihood existed that such a memorial would receive a favorable answer. Later, an offer came from the Susquehanna Purchasers granting 38,000 acres of their territory, and from the Delaware Purchasers giving a town- ship six miles square, if the school should be located on land within their jurisdiction. ‘This proposal seems never to have received seri- ous consideration, for what reason we do not know.
Wheelock had no intention of bringing upon himself, by decid- ing the matter, the odium which would necessarily come from the disappointment of interested parties. In March, 1768, he wrote to Keen:
And at which of these places soever it shall be fix’d great numbers will be disobliged thereby—& whoever determines Y° matter will likely expose himself & posterity to many censures thereby unless he be of higher character & greater authority & more disinterested than any who wo’d undertake to do it in this country.
The responsibility was thus to be borne by the English trustees, who were too far away to be affected by the lamentations of the disappointed.
84 HISTORY OF DARTMOUTH COLLEGE
In the fall of 1768 Wheelock sent the Reverend Ebenezer Cleve- land and John Wright to inspect the sites offered. ‘They first pro- ceeded to Portsmouth, to interview Governor Wentworth, and then they made a careful survey of possible sites in western New Hamp- shire. Then followed a visit to the Berkshires, and finally an in- spection of Albany. Their report, a long, detailed and studiously impartial document, was filed with Wheelock on December 17. This report and other pertinent papers he at once sent to Keen. He pressed for a rapid decision, but expressed himself as having no preference, whatever, in the choice, which he maintained was solely the responsibility of the English trustees. However, under guise of removing difficulties which might stand in the way of one of the proposed sites and of putting them all on an even basis, he wrote:
When I first tho’t of removing to Cowas; the distance of 200 miles —a new country—my poverty & inability to bear the Expense neces- sary therein—seem’d to be insuperable objections. But since I am certified of a plenty of provisions at Haverhill & Orford—so many excellent ones of my own Congregation & others determining to accompany & settle with me—the great advantage I may be to a new, large and fertile Country by settling with my School among them—and likely a wide opening soon into Canadian country—and, as I conceive, no disadvantage to the general design of my School, but much the contrary; my view of the matter ts so altered as fully to reconcile my mind to it. And tf the Gentlemen of the Trust shall fix upon that as the place for it I shall be well satisfied. However I think I am in God’s way while I submit the matter to such a Deci- ston & desire the will of God may be done.
There seems to be little question of Wheelock’s real preference for the New Hampshire site. -
The Trustees made the decision to which he had guided them. New Hampshire was chosen in April,.1769, and news of that con- clusion reached Wheelock early in August, coming to him through advices published in a Boston newspaper before the official news arrived. It was too late to remove during that year, as he had hoped to do, but at least the matter of securing the charter could be ac- complished.
ys ee
THE SCHOOL BECOMES A COLLEGE 85
Now enters John Wentworth, Royal Governor of New Hamp- shire, next to Wheelock himself the most potent factor in the es- tablishment of the college. Born at Portsmouth in 1737, son of Mark Hunking Wentworth, a wealthy merchant, and nephew of Governor Benning Wentworth, he was an unquestioned member of the aristocracy of the little provincial capital. A graduate of Har- vard in the class of 1755, he was sent by his father to England in 1763 as his business representative. In London he soon acquired a secure position in society and the friendship of many whose influence was worth the while, especially that of the powerful Whig peer, the Marquis of Rockingham. So high was his standing that when Governor Benning Wentworth had exceeded even the wide bounds set by the eighteenth century for reasonable peculation in office and was about to be thrown bodily from his position, his nephew was able to arrange for a simple resignation as a substitute. He was also able to obtain the office for himself, as well as the position of Surveyor General of His Majesty’s Woods in North America and a degree of Doctor of Civil Laws from Oxford University. Returning to America in 1767, he was received with high acclaim by his native city. As time went on, he retained his popularity with greater suc- cess than seemed possible in those times so trying to officers loyal to the crown. Young, gay, handsome, democratic in manner though aristocratic in principle, devoted to horses and sport, happy as the husband of one of the most beautiful women of the colonies (whom he succeeded in marrying twelve days after the death of her first husband), not wealthy himself but able to command large re- sources, creator of a great country estate in the wilderness, con- scientious in the performance of his duties, intelligent and wise in the consideration of the problems which he encountered, of un- blemished integrity, he appeared to be marked out by fortune for a useful and prosperous career. It could hardly seem likely that there should be any congeniality between Wheelock and this young royal governor. Yet one of the most pleasing pictures that the story of the college has to show is the mutual respect and genuine affec- tion existing between Wentworth and the sober Puritan divine.
At this ttme New Hampshire was the only province north of Maryland in which no college had been established. ‘Twelve years
86 HISTORY OF DARTMOUTH COLLEGE
before, an association of ministers in the eastern part of the state had petitioned Governor Benning Wentworth for the grant of a college charter. That robust churchman would do nothing of the sort unless Episcopal management was guaranteed, and the minis- ters preferred no college at all to that kind of an institution, so the matter was dropped. ‘That occurrence gave an indication of the dif- ficulties which Wheelock might have reason to expect. ‘That no permanent disagreement developed was due to the fact that John Wentworth was quite a different man from his uncle.
In the arrangement of the details of the proposed charter it was Wheelock’s idea that the double trust, already in operation, should be retained, and that the American trustees, all residents of Con- necticut, should be continued in office, with the single addition to their number of the governor as a representative of New Hamp- shire. ‘The latter would by no means consent to this plan; the system of double trusts he regarded as cumbersome and unworkable, while to New Hampshire, as an interested party, must be assigned a reasonable proportion of the board. Wheelock was probably very glad to acquiesce in the first of these demands. If he could shake off the effective control of the English Trust, without having the appearance of doing so himself, he would be well satisfied. Proba- bly he never expected that he would succeed in his second re- | quest, but was merely stating his position to find what the answer would be. In the negotiations up to this time the new institution had been referred to as an academy. In a letter to Wentworth written in August, in which the main theme was a discussion of the tentative draft of the charter, he added a postscript, appar- ently as an after-thought, “If you think proper to use the Word College instead of Academy I shall be well pleased with it.” It is doubtful if he really was as casual about this point as he seems to have been. ‘There is evidence that for many years he had hoped that eventually a college would be the outcome of his efforts, and it is probable that the dignity associated with a college presidency was not unattractive to him. ‘The postscript seems to have been of the nature of a trial balloon, an attempt to feel his way without seriously committing himself. It certainly gives the impression that at that date he had not revealed to Wentworth the full extent of
THE SCHOOL BECOMES A COLLEGE 87
his plans. At any rate, the experiment was a success; the word academy, found in the first drafts of the charter, disappeared and the word college was substituted.
In September, Ralph Wheelock was sent to the governor to carry on further negotiations. He brought back news which acted like an exploding bomb. According to his report, the governor demanded that the Bishop of London should be made a member of both the American and English Trusts, that he should be given the disposal of the funds in the hands of the latter, and that three provincial officers (the President of the Council, the Speaker of the House, and the Chief Justice of the Superior Court) should be ex-officio members of the American Trust. Toa friend Wheelock wrote, “Per- haps he only means to try me, if he should continue to insist upon it it will be Y° end of my tho’ts of Settlement in Y° Province.” ‘To Wentworth he expressed himself in very firm but courteous lan- guage. The action required by the governor, he said, would be _considered to be a betrayal of trust by those who had given the funds. ‘The sentiment in the governor’s own province was opposed to bishops and jealous of infringement by ecclesiastical potentates. It would be a pity to disappoint the hopes of the people of New Hampshire, excited by the prospect of a college, as well as Whee- lock’s own desires, but, if the governor insisted, all negotiations must cease. Either Ralph had misreported Wentworth’s requests, or the governor was sending up a trial balloon of his own. In his reply he said that Wheelock had entirely misunderstood him. He had no idea of asking for the Bishop of London any authority be- yond that involved by his addition to the English ‘Trust as an ordi- nary member; his power to be no greater than that of any of the group, and his position to be a personal rather than an ex-officio one. Nor had he ever proposed that he should become a member of the American Trust. He thought that some recognition of the Eng- lish Church was desirable, as showing that the college was not de- voted exclusively to the advancement of dissenters, with a fixed view to discourage the Church of England. He did not insist on including the provincial officials as ex-officio members of the trus- tees, but considered that if it were done, the institution would profit thereby.
88 HISTORY OF DARTMOUTH .COLLEGE
This interpretation put a different light upon the matter. Whee- lock sent his son-in-law, Alexander Phelps, a better diplomat than Ralph, to confer further with the governor. The latter admitted that no power existed on this side of the water to compel the English trus- tees to admit the Bishop of London to membership; the most that could be done was for the American trustees to recommend that the English board take that action. Phelps further reported that the leading dissenters in Portsmouth felt that the presence of the Bishop on the English board was mere moonshine, and that the gover- nor, having given way on all vital points, should be indulged in this. It was finally concluded that such action was entirely reason- able. It may be well to anticipate events at this point and to see what happened to the recommendation. The English trustees, upon receipt of it, were apparently rather dazed at the request, but eventually determined to yield to it. ‘They wrote to the bishop (the | letter is not preserved) asking if he would be willing to share in their work. ‘That prelate replied in very pompous terms, saying that he had not seen the charter,
. nor has the least intimation been given to me that a Provision has been made in the charter, either that the Head of the College shall be of the church of England or that the Prayers made use of — shall be those of our Liturgy. And besides I cannot help remarking — that in the list of Trustees which the Governor has sent me there are several Dissenting Ministers and not one of the Church of England. What use a Bishop of London can be to such a Trust or with what Propriety He could accept it, I cannot see.
So he declined the honor, much to the satisfaction of everyone ex- cept the governor, and even he, having made an appropriate Bestia probably was not over-solicitous about the outcome.
From this point the negotiations went smoothly on. On October 25, Wheelock wrote to Wentworth saying that it would be extremely erateful to him if the latter would christen “the House to be built” after his own name. In a letter of the same date to Phelps he ex- plained that it was his purpose to name the college after Lord Dart- mouth and its first building after Wentworth, but if Phelps, after consulting prudent counselors, found that it would be more helpful
THE SCHOOL BECOMES A COLLEGE 89
to the cause to call it Wentworth College, the matter might be de- cided that way. This display of tact, with the purpose of conciliating the governor, was not found necessary, and Dartmouth College it became. Wentworth, however, had to wait more than fifty years for his “House.”
The charter bears the date, December 13, 1769. Phelps wrote to Wheelock, after its enrollment, that “it is thought by gentlemen here to be the most liberal charter in America,” and inspection of the document supports that point of view. No mention of religious tests for student, teacher, president or trustee was made, except the provision that no person should be excluded from enjoying the advantages of the institution on account of his “‘speculative senti- ments in religion,’ and the requirement, remarkable for the time, that seven of the twelve trustees must be laymen. To the trustees was given full authority to appoint officers, including the filling of vacancies within their own body, to provide instruction and to
award any of the degrees commonly granted by the universities of - Great Britain. Wheelock was appointed president and was author- ized to select his own successor, who should hold office “‘until such appointment is disapproved by the trustees.”’ Future presidents were to be elected by the board. So well has the charter answered the demands of the years that but few modifications of it have been required. ‘The property limit of £6000 “yearly value” (or income) was cancelled in 1883; the provision that eight trustees must be residents of New Hampshire was reduced to a requirement of seven in 1893 and to five in 1921; a modification was made in the require- ments for holding a legal meeting of the board in 1893, and in 1807 certain state officers (the five members of the governor’s council, the speaker of the house, the president of the senate, and the chief justice of the superior court) were made active members when the board was taking action involving funds which came from grants of the state. In addition, in 1892 a “‘gentleman’s agreement’’ was arranged whereby, in the future, five members of the trust were to be elected by the alumni, although the matter was managed in such a way as to necessitate no change in the charter.
The first board of trustees was made up of Governor Wentworth, ‘Theodore Atkinson, President of the Council, George Jaffrey and
go HISTORY OF DARTMOUTH COLLEGE
Daniel Pierce, members of the Council, all from Portsmouth and Peter Gilman, Speaker of the House, from Exeter (the charter re- quirement of eight members from New Hampshire was not at the start effective). From Connecticut the trustees selected were the Reverend Eleazar Wheelock of Lebanon, the Reverend Benjamin Pomeroy of Hebron, the Reverend James Lockwood of Wethers- field, the Reverend ‘Timothy Pitkin and the Reverend John Smal- ley of Farmington, the Reverend William Patten of Hartford, (Wheelock’s son-in-law) and Deputy Governor William Pitkin of Hartford. Wentworth, Atkinson and Jaffrey were churchmen, the remainder were dissenters. Wentworth, Atkinson, Jaffrey, Pierce and Patten were graduates of Harvard, Wheelock, Pomeroy, Lock- wood, Timothy Pitkin and Smalley held degrees from Yale, while Gilman and William Pitkin were not college graduates. At the con- clusion of the negotiations Wheelock wrote to Wentworth express- ing his appreciation and that of the Connecticut trustees for the generosity of the charter and for the governor’s “views” through- out the whole affair, which appeared to him to be “generous, dis- interested, sincere & truly noble,” as indeed they were.
We have thus reached the goal set for this chapter. A new direc- tion was given to Wheelock’s enterprise, and the school had become a college.
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CHAPTER III
The College 1s Launched
HE site being settled, the charter enrolled, the legal for- malities necessary to the grant of the promised township being under way, and large additional subscriptions of land, scattered through the townships in western New -Hampshire and the disputed territory which eventually became Vermont, having been secured, Wheelock evidently considered that the more important steps preliminary to his removal had been taken. He never was more mistaken. Up to this time the attention of those interested in lands in the Connecticut valley had been cen- tered in the effort to secure the school for that general region. ‘That point being settled in their favor, acute controversy arose among them as to which of the numerous townships there located should have the honor (and profit) of being the seat of the new institution. Grants of these towns had been made to proprietors, most of whom had no intention of becoming actual settlers, but who expected to profit largely by the sale of the lands to those who were. ‘The enter- prise was thus purely commercial in its nature. Grantees believed that the value of their lands would be increased to such an extent by the proximity of the college that they could well afford to give the institution large tracts as a free gift. The proprietors of each of the towns concerned were so sure of this and so desirous of ob- taining the unearned increment which would result, that a sordid scramble ensued, almost unrelieved by any gleam of true generosity or real charitable intent.
Q 2 HISTORY OF DARTMOUTH COLLEGE
Wheelock was evidently unaware that competition among these towns would rise to such heights. He thought the matter of fixing the site to be so simple that he merely asked Colonel Phelps, who had been conducting the negotiation with Wentworth, to proceed from Portsmouth to the Coos territory, select the site, receive deeds, arrange for the planting of crops, and assemble building materials, so that actual construction might be begun early in the spring, ensuring sufficient progress to make possible the removal of the school during the summer. Later, some doubt developed as to the extent of Phelps’ authority, but the document itself seems to grant him ample powers. Phelps was kept in Portsmouth longer than he had anticipated by the formalities required for obtaining the char- ter for the township which had been promised as a grant. The loca- tion selected was Landaff, which had already been assigned to a group of proprietors whose rights were supposed to have been for- feited by their failure to comply with the conditions of the grant. ‘The charter of this town, made out in favor of the trustees of the College, bears the date, January 19, 1770, but Phelps was unable to start for Coos until late in the month.
During the preliminary investigation three sites had been prom- inently mentioned. The least seriously regarded was the valley of the Baker River, with lands in Plymouth, Rumney and Campton, amounting to 5000 acres; admirable as a situation for the college from every point of view except its distance from the Connecticut River (27 miles). ‘That difficulty, however, was regarded as a serious one. Most impressive was the offer of Haverhill, represented in the negotiations by Colonel Jacob Bayley as agent. In this town a site was offered upon the great ox-bow of the Connecticut, near Haver- hill village, where a farm of 600 acres, with grist mill, saw mill and barn, could be secured. In other parts of the town and those adja- cent 5600 acres had been subscribed. Particular attention was called by the supporters of this locality to the fact that it promised to be the center of the region and that all the traffic of the country to the north must pass through it when in transit to Portsmouth and Boston. Bayley also indignantly repudiated the slanders of rival towns to the effect that firewood could not be procured in the vicin- ity. Orford was represented by Colonel Jonathan Moulton, who
THE COLLEGE IS LAUNCHED 93
obtained promises of 2000 acres of land and £80, sterling, in money, an offer which later was considerably increased. In all the sordid contention of the period a refreshing note was struck by Israel Morey of that town, whose letter to Wheelock shows a sense of re- straint which must have made it a particularly powerful and diplo- matic plea. It deserves quotation in full.
I Rejois at the News of y° School being fix’t within y*® Province of New Hampshire. I Cant think but that it must be y° Best Place for y° School as it is a Goodly Land in Gennal upon the River and men of Larning and Good odor are Greatly wanted in this part of y° Con- tray. Providence seems to pint out this part of y° Contry for y° School, by what I Can Best Larn by information and that the Big- gest offers Have been made to have it in y*® township of Haverhill and that Sum offers have been made by Colo. Moulton &c to have it fix'tin y* township of Orford Both towns I believe are very good and I Believe you may have your Chois of Either of them if you should think Best to fix it in E:ther of them. I Believe you may have as much Given in one town as in the other. I Dont mien to give any more to have it in Orford than to have it in Haverhill I am willing to Leve that affair to yourself or them whose that it is to Say which is the Best Place. If it Comes to this Part of y® Country I am Easy about what town. Many things may be said in favor of Haverhill and much mite be said in favor of Orford. Col? Bayley Seems to Like Haverhill Best for y° School. I Believe I should tf I lived and owned thair. I have a Grate value for Col? Bayley’s Judgement. Set interest all aside Sir a Number of Gent™ have prom’st to Give Some- thing to y° School in Land when it shall be fix’t and that they will Rember you and Give you Land for your Extrodary troble in y° School &c. Sir I understand you are Coming up Next Month. I hope to see you then & if there be any Sarvice that I can Do you inform me bya Line. I shall take the utmost Care to wate on your Bisness.
While Orford and Haverhill apparently were the first to advance their claims, other communities were not slow in entering the lists when the fact became known that the Connecticut valley was to have a college. We find in Wheelock’s papers offers from Charles- town, Plainfield, Lebanon, Lyme, Piermont (which, however, was
904 HISTORY OF DARTMOUTH COLLEGE
making common cause with Orford) and Gunthwait (afterwards Lisbon). The first mention of Hanover occurs in a letter from Ed- ward Freeman, of Mansfield, to his son John, an early settler of that town. It is dated September 4, 1769, and says, referring to the site;
I have heard Transiently that Doct" Wheelock thinks likely in Hanover or Orford or another Town I know not the name. The Doct' as I heer says Hanover is settled with the most serious steady Inhabitants.
By the time Phelps reached the scene of action, Lebanon and Hano- ver had merged interests in favor of the latter town and Hartford, Norwich, Plainfield and some of the back towns had entered the combination. The result was the offer of a tract, partly in Hanover, partly in Lebanon, embracing 3000 acres in one block, as well as other subscriptions in money, lumber, labor and outlying lands. Evidently the matter was hurriedly arranged, for on February 10, 1770, James Murch, the Hanover agent, notified Wheelock that he did not think Phelps was properly informed of these subscrip- tions and asked that the decision should not be made until they were completed. From this time Hanover must be reckoned as a contending party.
Phelps, thinking that he had full powers to settle the matter, spent no great amount of time in the Connecticut valley, but quickly de- cided in favor of Haverhill. He made arrangements for building supplies to be provided for the spring, and returned to Connecticut to make his report. Then the storm broke. ‘The disappointed towns echoed with recriminations, the most definite charge which has survived being that of James Murch, who wrote to Wheelock on March 12;
I would also take y° liberty to inform you that y* People in these Parts Emagin y® Col? Dose Not give fair Representations and they think not without reason for there Emaganation for Mr. Powers has told John Wright that the Col? Being in Company with Cole Moulton would give him half his Entrist he had in orford if he would git it in that town ading that his intress there did not Cost
THE COLLEGE IS LAUNCHED 95
Col? Moulton So Much as it had Cost him in the Bissness. Col? Moulton teling him he would take it into Consideration and Sent him a letter with y* Promise of fifty Pounds if he Should obtain it for orford. at which Col? Phelps Showed great resentment for so trefling a Sum Being offered. This heare together with much of his talk gives them to Suspect that if he be not bribed he is trying to advance his own interest.
At the same time Wheelock received a communication from the governor, strongly favoring Landaff as the site. No reasons were given, but it developed, upon inquiry in Portsmouth, that the governor was disturbed at rumors of speculative manipulations by which the school was being used to increase land values. His argu- ments for Landaff were entirely cogent. ‘The school owned the land there and any increase in values, through proximity to the institu- tion, would be to its own advantage; it could, moreover, control the course of affairs in the town and would not be subordinate to the civil authority. Wheelock never had the slightest idea of settling in an uninhabited town, but he informed the governor, after stat- ing some objections to the plan, that he had determined to defer final action until spring, when he intended to visit the Coos coun- try himself. This postponement involved a repudiation of the de- cision of Phelps and of his authority to make it. For the sake of Wheelock’s reputation it is to be hoped that he had better evidence of wrong-doing on Phelps’ part than the letter of Murch, quoted above. That was no more definite or credible than charges after- wards directed against Wheelock himself. In two long letters Phelps protested vigorously that his integrity was unspotted and that he had from Wheelock ample powers to make the decision he did, but no replies to them have been preserved. He was never employed as Wheelock’s agent again. Unless there was more evidence against him than that which is now available, he seems to have been hardly used. It is likely, however, that Wheelock, now fully aware of the excitement existing among the towns in the Connecticut valley, was hopeful that their bids might be increased if time was given for that action.
96 HISTORY OF DARTMOUTH COLLEGE
In the spring Wheelock went to Lebanon Springs, New York, for a period of recuperation. On May 30, 1770, he wrote from Sunder- land, Massachusetts, informing Governor Wentworth that he was on his way to Coos, accompanied by his son, Ralph, Benjamin Pom- eroy and a physician, Dr. Crane. He understood that
... y° People in Several Towns are got into a heat & unhappy temper among themselves about the affair w* I think 1s an Argument strongly urging your personal presence upon y° occasion tf it may be.
In any case he looked forward to a final decision at a meeting to be held in Portsmouth. On June 8 he was in Hanover, where he re- mained three days, being compelled to make his abode in Norwich, as there was no habitation in the town itself within three miles of the proposed site of the college. Here he found it necessary to issue a public statement denying the rumor that the site had been fixed at Landaff, Bath or Haverhill, and asserting that no decision had yet been reached. He made a leisurely progress through the contending townships, reaching Plymouth on June 15. Here he received a letter from Governor Wentworth and the New Hampshire trustees in- forming him that that group “unanimously recommend and vote that the college be built at Landaff or in any part of Haverhill not one mile distant from Landaff,”’ with further details as to the nature of the site, assignment of land, etc. Wheelock referred to this action in a letter to his wife saying that he was “setting out tomorrow to wait on the gentlemen & hope to convince them that what they pro- pose is impracticable, and that it is well it is for I expect a very try- ing time.”
‘There are many occasions in the history of the college upon which one interested in the institution longs to have been present as a spectator. Not the least of them is that now before us. John Went- worth had his mind definitely set upon Landaff as the site of the college. His reasons were by no means illogical, and, although open to conviction, he had an abundant share of firmness and strength of mind. ‘The New Hampshire trustees were leaders in the affairs of the province and were accustomed to have their opinions prevail. Against these men of authority stood Wheelock, the unpretentious Connecticut divine, and Pomeroy, his faithful friend. The tempta-
THE COLLEGE IS LAUNCHED 97
tion is strong to exercise the imagination in the attempt to pic- ture the scene which ensued, but this book is a story of sober fact. Suffice it to say that on the ninth of July, 1770, the announcement was made that the site of Dartmouth College was fixed at Hanover and that this decision had been reached by the trustees without a dissenting vote.
On July 20 the Connecticut trustees ratified this action, with the proviso, however, that a suitable farm should be provided for Whee- lock himself. As a matter of fact, probably this had already been done. In practically all the offers made by the various towns it was stipulated that a portion of the land (one quarter, in most cases) should go to Wheelock. Such a provision was necessary if he was to live at all. During his entire service for the school and college he never received from those institutions any compensation whatso- ever. Now he was giving up his slender income as a minister, while his Connecticut lands, owing to the departure of so many from that region, had shrunk sadly in value. Certainly any grant which he received was justly earned.
‘The reasons given by the trustees for the selection of Hanover are not entirely convincing. ‘The town was said by them to be lo- cated at the best spot on the river for the erection of a bridge, the stream there being at one point but eight rods wide, with well ele- vated banks for abutments. The falls in the river were also con- sidered to be of value. The site, moreover, was in a straight line from Portsmouth to Crown Point, where the Indians were wont to congregate, and but sixty miles distant from the latter point. The determining factor, however, was probably the fact that a large area (3300 acres, including the promised governor’s lot given by Benning Wentworth) was located in one block, instead of being in scattered lots, as was the case of the land grants in the competing towns. This land was described as containing 200 acres of choice meadow, annually overflowed by the river (evidently a recom- mendation) and a large brook suitable for mills. Much of the tract however, including most of the Lebanon donation, turned out to be of little value.
Hanover and the college are now so inseparably connected in the minds of those who cherish the institution that no other site seems
98 HISTORY OF DARTMOUTH COLLEGE
possible for Dartmouth. Sometimes, however, when one visits Or- ford and visualizes a series of college buildings along its terrace, with the region to west, sloping to the river, as it might appear at the hands of a landscape architect, one wonders if Wheelock was altogether wise. Even more does one doubt after observing the unique prospect at Haverhill, with the great ox-bow of the Con- necticut in the background. At Hanover the stream, running in what is almost a chasm, plays no part in the scene. But Wheelock was quite devoid of a sense of the picturesque; to him the location of the institution was a matter to be decided solely by utilitarian considerations. Fortunately, it was quite impossible to place the college in any spot in the upper valley of the Connecticut which did not possess a large measure of charm.
It was not to be expected that so many communities should be disappointed in being deprived of the site of the college without bitter feelings being aroused. The proprietors of Hanover, in great satisfaction, doubled or tripled the price set upon their holdings or withdrew them from the market entirely in the hope of still higher returns, while those of the other towns indulged in violent invective and slanderous aspersions of the persons involved. ‘Thus Colonel Moulton, the Orford aspirant, informed Wheelock that everyone was laughing at him for his adherence to the Doctor’s cause:
All my neighborhood flinging, ah, I always Told you a Purse to himself, and now this of fixing the Colledge Proves it. Your usefull- ness at Present in the Dear Redeemer’s Kingdom seams done. Oh, Sir, Consider this afair seams to owerthrough in the minds of Siners all you have been Building up so many years, and its Currently talked that those that have Largely Subscribed will not pay you one farthing if the Colledge Stands in Hanover & others say it Cant Prosper for it’s alia Jockey Trick from first to Last.
Perhaps one should not criticize the good colonel too severely. He was probably quite sincere in identifying his own profit with “the Dear Redeemer’s Kingdom.” Colonel Bayley, the Haverhill representative, also thought badly of the affair. Speaking of Hano- ver:
THE COLLEGE IS LAUNCHED 99
The place is Disagreeable to y° Government in general and of the Easterly Part of y° Massachusetts. I must Say that many Donors did say to me that they would never give any more nor Even Pay what they had Subscribed if the Place was not altered. I am so Selfish otherways I would advise if Possible that the Place was altered. I am fully of the opinion that I could collect for the Colledge Enough to Build the whole if it could be moved, where not one Penny would be given where it 1s.
But he continued, in the next sentence, that he would be glad to sell Wheelock peas and wheat at a reasonable rate. In addition, a long letter signed “Publius” was sent to the governor, proclaiming that the Doctor had been grossly deceived and describing the town- ship of Hanover in terms which were scarcely flattering. From in- ternal evidence Wheelock evidently suspected the source of this communication. He made a special point of calling the attention of Phelps to the document, adding, significantly, that the governor “thinks he can trace it.”’
Wheelock bore this storm of calumny with whatever patience he could command, which, it must be admitted, was very little. To Colonel Moulton he defended himself at length against the charge of personal profit in the transaction; he described the care which had been taken in selecting the site and the reasons which deter- mined the choice. ‘Then he lashed out in vigorous terms:
If there has been an Error committed in this important matter, by all means let it be rectified before it goes any further; but let it be done by Men who are not so Swallowed up in themselves that they will not take pains to inform themselves of the affair, so as to Enable them to act understandingly therein, or so blinded by their own Interest as to disqualify them to have any hand in determining that matter.
Rumors were circulated that the governor was disgusted with the whole transaction and had withdrawn his favor from the institution. Nothing could have been more remote from the truth. Having yielded his own choice, after mature deliberation, he now defended the action of the board as energetically as did Wheelock himself.
100 HISTORY OF DARTMOUTH COLLEGE
But the bitter feeling created in the disappointed towns was slow to disappear, and it constituted a source of trouble to the college for many years.
Wheelock was now fifty-nine years of age. He considered himself to be an old man and others evidently regarded him in the same light. He was disturbed by the condition of his health. He had long been subject to severe attacks of illness and in 1769 was especially infirm. On July 21 he wrote to his friend Moses Peck, in Boston:
I have been ina bad state of Health & in my own Opinion & in the opinion of my Friends very near the End of my Race, but through the pure Mercy of God & his Blessing upon some means I have been using I have Now more hope of recovering a comfortable State of Health than I had for many years past.
He was likewise in debt. Although his Connecticut farms were valued at much more than the claims upon him, the land could not be sold at that time except at a heavy sacrifice, and he was troubled by liabilities amounting to £150. All his life he had lived with that degree of comfort which the eighteenth century had brought to Connecticut, and had formed habits depending upon those com- forts. Now he was to leave it all; an old man, a sick man, a man largely (as he thought) in debt; he was to abandon the comforts of civilization, and to build in the wilderness, from its foundations, a new and untried enterprise. Apparently he felt no doubts or hesita- tion; he showed no reluctance to abandon the life to which he had become so accustomed; he was eager to start anew.
Some of the difficulties which seemed to stand in the way were, in a measure, removed. Wheelock’s health continued to be unsatis- factory through the winter of 1769, and in the spring of 1770 he was advised to spend some time at the mineral springs in Lebanon, New York. ‘This was probably the first vacation in his life, and his health at once took a turn for the better. He seems to have suffered no ill effects from the long journey on horseback to the Coos country, to Portsmouth and to Boston which followed. It is probable that the change from the comfortable but stuffy atmosphere of his Con- necticut parsonage to the open, and from the sedentary occupations which had hitherto engaged his efforts to the active supervision of
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the practical details required in setting up the college in the wilder- ness, were not to his physical disadvantage. Moreover John Thorn- ton, ever watchful of the opportunity to be of genuine service, came to the rescue of his finances. In 1768 that thoughtful friend had presented Wheelock with a “chariot,” a vehicle which for years aroused the admiration of the unsophisticated dwellers in Hano- ver, but which unfortunately has long since disappeared. Now he notified his friend that the latter was to draw on him for whatever amount was required to pay his debts. These gifts were to be but the beginning of a series of benefactions which were to mean so much to the Doctor in the years to come.
Wheelock hastened home from his successful contest with the dignitaries of Portsmouth, anxious to settle his affairs in Lebanon with all possible speed. He was impatient to return to Hanover that he might give his personal direction to the preparation of suitable facilities in the wilderness for his family and school before winter should be upon them. Some difficulties developed with his flock. It was, in fact, against the opposition of a portion of his con- eregation that he gained access to the pulpit which he had occupied for thirty-five years to deliver a farewell sermon. In August he was again in Hanover, where the work of clearing had already begun, and he soon was directing from thirty to fifty laborers in the task before them. He left his family at Lebanon to follow when affairs should be farther advanced. In charge of his business at that point were his pupil, David McClure, now holding a degree from Yale in the class of 1769, who had served as master of the school for the past year, and his principal lieutenant, Bezaleel Woodward. ‘The latter, born in 1745, had been fitted for college at the Lebanon school, though not as a charity student, had received his degree from Yale in 1764, and, after an interval spent in the study of theology, had returned to Wheelock in 1766 to serve as general factotum, book- keeper, substitute in preaching, and eventually as a teacher in the school. He was later to marry Wheelock’s daughter and to con- tinue as a devoted servant of the college until his death in 1804.
The estate in New Hampshire to which Wheelock had now come consisted of over 40,000 acres of land, scattered through numerous townships in that province and Vermont, all of it in a “state of Na-
102 HISTORY OF DARTMOUTH COLLEGE
ture.’ Of it, the block of 3000 acres upon which the college was to be settled was of the greatest significance. It consisted of the “gov- ernor’s lot’ of 500 acres in the southwestern corner of Hanover. ‘To the east was a lot of 300 acres given to Wheelock personally, and east of that, stretching along the southern boarder of the town on both sides of Mink Brook, and reaching nearly to Etna, was a further area of 1000 acres assigned to the college. The proprietors of Lebanon had granted the college about 1400 acres, adjoining this land to the south, embracing the rocky eminence, from the purpose for which it was given since known as Mount Support. No settlement had been attempted upon this tract. The charter of Hanover had been granted in 1761, the first settlers came to the town in 1765, and in 1770 perhaps twenty families lived within the limits of the township, mostly in the northern and central part, but no one of them within two and a half miles of the site of the college.
The plain which had been selected as the seat of his institution may well have appealed to Wheelock’s