... AND MANY DARTMOUTH YESTERDAYS
1861 A Selection of Student Letters by Edward Tuck, 1862, Reflecting Life in the Opening Days of the Civil War
Hanover, April 14th 1861.
MY DEAR FATHER:
This has been a very exciting day here, although Sunday and that too in a place where, of all others, one would least expect excitement on the Sabbath. This noon the Telegraph confirmed last night's rumor that Fort Sumter had been unconditionally surrendered with other news which you of course know. The more interested of the Professors were on the alert for the dispatch, as well as the students and it seems that the minister was likewise, for this afternoon he very aptly introduced the subject and preached as good and practical a sermon, closing with a most earnest appeal, as I ever heard.
Everybody talks of war, 9 out of 10 profess willingness to "go down and fight" and I've no doubt a majority of these talkers would really go if things came to the worst. Two or three really think of taking up their standing and joining some volunteer corps. Frank Hobbs positively declares he will but that's not much sign that he will do it. What do you think the prospect is?
We have had some rain here to-day, but more, probably, in the mountains, for the river is very high, almost into the road on the Vermont side and above the Breakwater on the Pier. It is rising at the rate of 4 inches an hour, or did this afternoon, but, as the ice is all out, the bridge is in no danger. The swift current looks very handsomely.
The enclosed slip of paper was sent to me in a Tribune the other day, which I send to you, thinking you might not like it if I should be so bold as to intrude upon your correspondence with the "N. Y. Tribune Association" by answering their missive.
As the Tribune gets here a day later than, the Boston Dailies, I should prefer the latter and if you will stop it, I will change. The Tribune contains much interesting matter which is not to be found in the other, but I do'nt find time more than 3 days in the week to peruse it as I should like to. . . .
With love to all, I am your affectionate son NED.
Hanover, April 28th 1861.
MY DEAR FATHER:
We have finished one week more of the term and there is left only 1½ weeks before I come home. They are driving us very hard, having 3 recitations and a lecture per diem, making 4 hours in the recitation room. I shall be glad when we get a fortnight's rest.
A warrant has been procured from the State to form a company and already between 30 & 40 have enlisted, among them are Ingraham & Bailey, the first & second of our class. It is to be composed solely of students and for that reason I suppose would not be called out unless affairs came into a very bad state. The only objection to this plan is that the 3 upper classes joining together, some of those who graduate this year might want to go into the service before those now in College.
All those who have now signed the paper are determined follows and the most of them over 21 yrs. of age. I should admire to put my name on the paper but, after your letter of a week ago or more, I have concluded I must get your permission. If it was a company of citizens, as well as students, it would be a different matter, but as it is I wish you would give me permission.
Guns are to be procured from the State probably next term, at any rate as soon as the demand for them upon Govern- ment can be filled. The Sophomores & Freshmen have formed companies and are to have uniforms, but not signing any warrant to serve the State, would probably disperse if there was danger of fighting. The Soph. Company numbers about 50 & the Fresh. 60 or more.
Nearly all the Southern students are gone and 3 have enlisted at the South. Very many graduates of '60 & '59 and of those who have entered and not finished their course are known to be in arms.
Tell Ellen that the services of Dr. Ben. Crosby have been accepted by the State, as surgeon, and that he leaves for Concord to-morrow morning.
A meeting was held yesterday at which Profs. Aiken & Patterson spoke. Mr. Balch offers $1000 to assist in the equipment of forces.
This reminds me that I shall need some money to settle my bills....
With much love, I am your affectionate son NED.
Hanover, June 16th 1861.
MY DEAR SISTER:
I suppose Father is not with you today. I rec'd a letter yesterday from him telling me of his proposed visit to Washington, to help his friends, he said. He didnt mention what his address would be, so that I shant write him till I hear more.
The war spirit has entirely evaporated at Dartmouth, leaving in its stead a spirit of destruction & deviltry.
You remember perhaps the long brick convent-like building in the rear of Dart. Hall. Several attempts had been made to set it on fire by firing it from below but as every partition was of brick and the least possible amount of wood-work had been used in its structure, the attempt was unavailing, until last Thursday night, when it was set inside the roof just under the eaves.
About 11½ o'clock the alarm of fire was raised and on jumping from my bed everything was illuminated with the blaze. A very still night was chosen, else there would have been danger. After it burst through the roof, it burned an hour & a half, with half the college collected round it battering down the brick walls and laughing at the numerous jokes perpetrated at its expense. The faculty were in the background but were quiet. The bellringer knew what was burning and for that reason no bell was rung & no alarm raised away from the buildings.
Some inconvenience was experienced yesterday but a large wooden shanty was erected during the day and a new site for a permanent edifice has been selected.
It was the most ludicrous sight I ever saw, the students coming down from their rooms many of them with nothing on but their slippers & hat and a quilt or shawl wrapped round their bodies bringing their pipes, which they lighted from the fire amidst great enthusiasm. An immense amount of brick was used in the building and it was amusing to see the half-clothed beings prying over the walls. It looks now, or did look before it was enveloped in the wooden shanty, like the ruin of a jail closely filled with cells. It was undoubtedly a good thing that it was "re- moved."
Last night a skeleton was stolen from the Medical College and suspended from the ceiling in the Chapel, directly over the Student's seats. Unluckily for the perpetrators of the deed, it was discovered before Prayers & removed, but it had to be cut to pieces, some of which remained in the Chapel, together with a large hole through which a rope had been let down, fastened to the beast and pulled up again. I have procured, fortunately, a collarbone to preserve as a trophy. It will be very hard for those who are found out, if any there are, as the skeleton, an immense one, was worth $5O. to say the least and has hung for a long time in the Lecture Room at the Med. Coll. building and will be missed for that reason.
I have taken up, I see, a good deal of space telling you of these things but it is all that has happened that I think you would be interested in.
The young ladies here of yr. acquaintance wish to be remembered &c. &c. Since receiving so much wholesome advice under the paternal roof I do not, of course, allow myself to be inveighled by the fair sex in any manner. The hearts of Hanover young ladies must be, I think, entirely insensible, neither being affected nor producing any effect, as none of them have ever left the state of single blessedness, but pass through the successive stages of blossom, maturity & decay as easily as Shakers.
Our church doesnt commence till 3½ o'clock but tis time to be getting ready. So with love to all I am
yr. affectionate bro. NED.
Hanover, July 14th 1861.
MY DEAR FATHER:
We are now entirely thro' study for Junior Year. The Examination is the only bugbear we have to look forward too & that will be over this week. The week after is of course Commencement week.
You will come up on Tuesday, I suppose. ... I shall not myself be here as I have been chosen a delegate to our annual Convention, which is to be holden at Yale. I would like to stop here but presume I shall enjoy that trip, having always desired to visit Yale, & this being a trip at half price.
Our Junior troubles have all subsided, with the loss however of Hobbs & Ingraham. If Hobbs had annihilated Professors Fairbanks & Varney & Ingra[ha]m had taken the place of the last named gentleman, the loss to the Class would have been the same but an immense advantage would have been gained by the College. As it is they have lost the best man they have seen here for years. Ingraham applied for his standing, was refused & then told the President he was no longer a member of the Class and is now on the point of departure....
I have read the Independent very thoroughly to-day & find in it very much of interest. Mr. Brace's articles I have read nearly all of. Horace Greeley's seem quite well written but are not so good, being more editorially-written, as though he had edited the Tribune for 30 yrs. I preserve very many extracts & hereafter shall preserve the whole paper....
With love to all, I am yr. affectionate son NED.
Hanover, Sept. 29th 1861
MY DEAR FATHER
I have not heard from you since Tuesday but suppose you have been busy about matters & things & have not been able to write me. . . .
What do you think of matters in Missouri & Gen. Fremont's campaign? I wish that I was enlisted in some capacity. I wrote this last sentence without thinking, for I dont intend to express such sentiments unless there is some chance of my fulfilling the wish, which I fear there is not at present.
The President's son Nat. is here to-day. He is Colonel of the Vt. 6th which goes before long. He was Lieut. Col. of the Reg. which started a few days ago but just as he was leaving he heard of his promotion. Another son of the Prex. is surgeon of the same regiment.
How is Colonel Marston getting along & do you think he will rejoin his regiment? I had a letter from Abby a few days ago urging me not to abandon my West Point scheme & to keep the run of Marston.* I wrote early in the term to W. P. to inquire about the present incumbent, from Dover, but have rec'd no reply.
We took up last week, rather unex- pectedly on account of the illness of Prof. Long, '"Edwards on the Will," which I believe you studied when you were here. It is quite difficult but I guess I shall find no more trouble with it than with the others. I have got along very well this term in our studies, especially in Prof. Long's department.
I have lately been taking a review of the life of Washington. I have been reading the first & second volumes & part of the third for a long time past, principally in vacations. I have taken notes on the whole work, with the exception of about 50 pages in vol. 4th which I have not completed, in my review. You can judge better of the fulness of the notes from the quantity of them; I have written over thus far nearly 12 pages of large size writing paper, such as you gave me in vacation. I shall hereafter take notes on all my historical reading & wish I had done so with Prescott's works....
yr. affectionate son NED.
Hanover, Oct. 13th 1861
MY DEAR FATHER:
I was quite surprised to hear from you that George Gill had left college & also that Gage had "collapsed under the present excitement." They are both in regular standing & are present and recite at recitation as usual. There must have been some misunderstanding between you & Mr. Gill or else George was premature in his statements. Three of them, White, Gage & Gill, tho't of taking commissions to get up a company but are not yet suited with their offer & are more than likely to stay thro' the term. Perhaps you had better not mention this to Mr. Gill if you are sure that you understood him correctly, as it might be unpleasant for George.
But our boys are still going. Two Juniors have appointments (commissions) as Lieutenants of Cavalry, in Vt., very good places. I have heard of two Sophs also as being in Cavalry Co.s somewhere. I believe I wrote you that a Junior had gone as Adjutant of Vt. 6th.
Our boys (Seniors) have formed a drill club, under the instruction of Brig. Gen. Jackman, the head of Norwich University, drilling an hour every afternoon. I have joined it, as I thought a little military knowledge could do one no hurt.
To show how our boys take hold of it, it is enough to say that out of 40 only, who are back this fall, 26 were at Norwich yesterday at the first lesson & 4 more will go to-morrow. The lessons will continue 3 or 4 weeks, at $1.00 per week. What do you think of it?
Professor Long has been very sick for 2 or 3 days & is not expected to live. His death will be a great loss to the college, being a much sounder man on many subjects than any other man in the Faculty. If another Fairbanks or Varney is made to take his place, this institution may as well give up the ghost.
How was the matter of the Library settled by the Trustees last summer? The college faculty have not yet seen fit to open it.
Last week evening prayers were abolished, much to the gratification of all concerned. The morning exercises are a little lengthened by the introduction of singing but not enough to counteract the good of no evening exercises.
The Catalogues are out but I have not sent you one as I tho't that the President would. If you have'nt one, let me know.
We didn't read our compositions on Wit till last week. Your ideas were quite serviceable to me, although by considerable study I worked up the matter into a very different form from that you sent it in, making it a more serious thing. . . .
yr. affectionate son, NED.
... I hope you wont think Gage's ideas of going to "War," foolish. His reason will be, if he goes, that he cant get a school for the winter & must get money some way or other, & fighting would be the easiest, as he could get his diploma even if he were shot. Some of our best men will go between now & Spring. I dont think we shall graduate 40.
Hanover Nov. 4th 1861.
MY DEAR FATHER:
I have only two more Sundays to spend in Hanover this fall. Our Examination takes place a fortnight from to-day & probably I shall get home a fortnight from to-morrow. I had tho't some of going by Lowell, as our Class photographs are to be taken by a man there, Warren, and those of us who can do so prefer to go there on our way rather than wait till he comes here in the Spring. I shall be governed entirely by the trains: If I can't go without staying over one night, I shall not go. . . .
A Sophomore, Kimball — died here last Friday of typhoid fever. Saturday morning, as is customary on such occasions, the students formed in procession & escorted the body to the Depot. It was a little singular that two of his classmates went home the same day to attend the funerals of brothers who were killed at Ball's Bluff. Don't you think that somebody was to be blamed for that defeat?
I am afraid that the terrible gale we had Saturday night may have reached down the coast to the Naval Expedition. But to-day we shall probably hear something from it. Everything most depends upon it, I suppose, for it must be that Mc[C]lellan won't wait any longer to make his advance movement if that succeeds. Will Gen. Scott's resignation affect the cause in any way, do you think? -
The class voted last Tuesday not to drill any longer, after having taken lessons two weeks. We had time to get an insight into nearly all the company movements & some of them we could go through very well indeed. It will be of great advantage to us if we are ever put where we want to drill recruits....
yr. affectionate son NED.
Hanover, Nov. 10th 1861.
MY DEAR FATHER
In a week & 2 days, I shall be in Exeter. This term has gone faster than any I have ever spent here, not only to myself alone but to most everybody, for all speak of its seeming shortness.
Yesterday afternoon Prof. Patterson invited me to ride down to Lebanon with him, an invitation which I accepted. He showed me the place on the road where you & he were brought up so suddenly last summer by the stopping of the wheel. He talked to me a good deal the way you do, when we go off riding, about matters & things of all sorts, intermingling his conversation with advice. He spoke quite discouragingly of the chance of getting his brother an office. He thinks that Rollins has'nt done all that he might if he had been so disposed. He said too that Mr. Blaisdell [the Treasurer of the College] had declared his inability to pay over $2OO apiece, of their salary, to the Faculty.
The war news is getting to be quite exciting. By a new arrangement we get two mails a day here now, one being brought by the midnight train & opened early in the morning. By this we get the Boston evening papers the next morning after they are printed.
I have just finished reading Motley's Dutch Republic. Our class is now purchasing donations for the Libraries. We subscribe $5.00 apiece & pay in the Spring, having the books sent us now, which we distribute among ourselves during the winter. I am in hopes to get some valuable works" from the Library & the donation both, but we draw by lot & according to Tuck luck, I am the very last man in the Class, to draw from the Library & expect the same luck in the donation.
My expenses this Fall will be large, but they include a new outfit from top to toe. My board bill will be $39.00 My overcoat $21.00, under-coat $14.00, pants & vest, $lO.OO, washing-bill $3.25, Daily-paper (about) $1.95, expenses home $5.00. I have on hand $5.00 which will undoubtedly go for something I don't now think of. The whole amounts to 89$, which will cover everything.
I shall write you most likely by Saturday to let you know when I shall get home. . ..
I may go down in a coach (as most of our Class will do) to W. Lebanon to meet the train that goes down at 2 in the morning, on Tuesday, in which case I shall get home at 11½, or I may wait till the 2nd train, not getting home till 5 or 7 P.M., via Lawrence.
With love Jo-all, lam your most affectionate son NED.
* Abby (Mrs. William Rufus Nelson of Peekskill, N. Y.) was the elder of Edward Tuck's two surviving sisters; the younger, Ellen (Mrs. Francis O. French), was at this time living at Exeter. Gilman Marston (Dartmouth 1837), commander of the 2nd Regt., N. H. Volunteers, had been critically wounded at Bull Run the previous July. As, also, a Congressman from New Hampshire he had the authority to make appointments to the U. S. Military Academy. "To keep the run of" was a colloquialism meaning to keep in touch with or informed about.
Undergraduate picture of Edward Tuckwhose many benefactions to the Collegeinclude the Amos Tuck School of BusinessAdministration honoring his father.
Amos Tuck, Class of 1835, lawyer, Lincoln's naval officer of the Port of Boston,and Dartmouth Trustee, 1857-1866.
Envelope of a letter from C. L. Foster, 1860, to his classmate Frederick Chasein the summer of 1861 graphically reflects the spirit of the Civil War years.
