Civilian Education and the Preparation for Service and Leadership in Antebellum America, 1845 – 1860
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Civilian Education and the Preparation for Service and Leadership in Antebellum America, 1845 – 1860 A dissertation submitted to Kent State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy by Philip M. McMurry August 2009 Dissertation written by Philip M. McMurry B.A., Grove City College, 1993 M.A., Kent State University, 2001 Ph.D., Kent State University, 2009 Approved by Jon L. Wakelyn, Chair, Doctoral Dissertation Committee Leonne Hudson, Members, Doctoral Dissertation Committee Lesley Gordon John Stalvey Raymond Craig Accepted by Kenneth Bindas, Chair, Department of History John Stalvey, Dean, College of Arts and Sciences ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements……………………………………………………………………………………………………iv Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………………………………vii Chapter 1 – Service and Leadership……………………………………………………1 Chapter 2 – Their Schools and Educational Systems……………45 Chapter 3 – College Education…………………………………………………………………107 Chapter 4 – Careers in Education…………………………………………………………165 Chapter 5 – Joining the Fight…………………………………………………………………231 Bibliography………………………………………………………………………………………………………………262 iii Acknowledgements There are many people I need to thank for their role in helping me write this dissertation. First of all, I must thank my advisor, Dr. Jon Wakelyn, who has the patience of Job. When I got off on a tangent or lost my focus, it was Dr. Wakelyn who helped get me back on track. He has gently shepherded me through the pitfalls of this process, while at the same time, would never let me settle for second best. In so many ways, he has helped me think like a professional historian and his guidance has been a major factor in my completion of this work. Second, Dr. Leonne Hudson taught me how to write like a historian. From my very first class with him as an M.A. student, he showed me how to be more analytical and direct in my approach to writing history. His input on earlier drafts of this dissertation was extremely helpful and greatly appreciated. He also assisted with much of the groundwork when Dr. Wakelyn retired and left campus. Third, I must express my heartfelt appreciation for Dr. Lesley Gordon who helped rescue me from a difficult situation when I was having problems putting my committee together. She joined my committee late in the process and instantly provided me with some excellent feedback, helping me to move forward. I iv would also like to thank Dr. Richard Steigmann-Gall whose gift of encouragement has made this difficult road much easier to walk. Additionally, Dr. Steigmann-Gall provided me with an excellent template for writing chapters that I frequently consulted. Dr. Ray Craig’s historicism class greatly broadened my intellectual horizons and influenced this study. He also was kind enough to invite me to his home to help me with crafting a better introduction. Last but not least, Dr. Kim Gruenwald provided me with some important feedback on earlier drafts of this dissertation. Gary Reese has given me considerable assistance by reading chapters and helping me see some of the gaps in my thinking. He also helped me with some research, and his constant interest in my work helped keep me going when discouragement occasionally set in. I would also like to thank my father, Doug McMurry, who gave me a love for both history and writing. More concretely, he also helped me with long and complicated research trips to Louisiana, Mississippi and the Library of Congress, as well as provided me with great feedback on earlier drafts of this dissertation. Both of my parents provided me with tremendous support through their prayers and words of encouragement. v I would like to extend my appreciation to Robert Sherer at the Tulane University Archives, Nora Murphy at the M.I.T. Archives, Nancy Baird at the Western Kentucky University Library, Peter Nelson at Amherst College Archives, Suzanne Christoff at the United States Military Academy Library and Jeffrey Boyce at the University of Mississippi Archives for their invaluable help in tracking down source material. Last, but certainly not least, my greatest thanks must go to my wife, Jennifer, who has made so many sacrifices to help me finish this dissertation. She made several five- hour trips to her parents with our daughters in tow so that I would have a quiet house in which to work. When I was hit with setbacks or discouraging news regarding my progress on this work, she was quick with encouragement and a cold Foster’s. She has never complained about all of the time I had to spend working on my research and writing and worked some pretty awful jobs to help put me through school. This work is gladly and wholeheartedly dedicated to her. vi Introduction On February 5, 1898, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology held a special ceremony for the unveiling of a bronze bust of their former president, Brigadier General Francis Amasa Walker. Walker had died the year before and the campus decided to build a memorial to honor him. During the ceremony, those who had been his students or had served under his command during the Civil War gave a series of speeches about his amazing leadership skills. Edward Winslow recounted stories of his great courage and leadership at the Battle of Chancellorsville. James Craft discussed his great sense of duty to his country that he passed on to both his soldiers and students. Then, almost as an afterthought, Craft reminded the audience that General Walker had had no previous experience in the military before joining the army during the Civil War. 1 Indeed, he had been a special tutor in Greek at the outbreak of the conflict. Despite this apparent disadvantage, Walker had been promoted from captain to brigadier general for his actions during the war. 1 Boston Transcript , January 5, 1898. Francis A. Walker Papers, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston. vii This seemingly minor detail could be considered largely an anomaly if it were not for the fact that several of the men who emerged as great leaders during the Civil War came from educational backgrounds. The Civil War was a defining moment in American history. Soldiers from both sides believed they were fighting to preserve their nation, and idealistic volunteers initially flooded to recruitment centers to join the battle. However, neither the Union nor the Confederacy would achieve victory without capable leaders. Most of the high-ranking officers who originally fought in the American Civil War were professional soldiers. Both the Union and Confederate armies filled the ranks of their senior officer corps with graduates of West Point or the Virginia Military Institute who had careers in the army. Moreover, many of them were veterans of the Mexican War or the struggles with Native American tribes. Of the 1,008 men who served as generals in the Civil War, 319 had professional military experience before the war. 2 However, as the conflict continued, both the North and the South replaced fallen or promoted officers with men who had little or no previous military training. These were men 2 Ezra Warner, Generals in Blue: Lives of the Union Commanders (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1992), p. xix. viii from all walks of life who made the difficult decision to join the fight and left behind their homes and civilian occupations. In some cases, these men were unable to adjust to the stress and responsibilities of army life. They did not know how to lead men or understand the necessities of war. Thus, they failed as military leaders. For example, General Leroy Pope Walker, a lawyer in Alabama before the war, was unable to “cope with the tremendous tasks” of military leadership, was eventually removed from command and instead became a military judge. General Philip Sheridan criticized General John Starkweather, a Wisconsin lawyer, for the lack of discipline among his men. Eventually, Starkweather resigned from command after his brigade was nearly destroyed by a Confederate cavalry raid. 3 However, other former civilians not only adapted, but also flourished in their new environment. These officers who had little military training are valuable to our understanding of education and leadership in both the antebellum period and the Civil War. Some of the civilian fields were notorious for providing relatively poor leaders. Ironically, historians 3 Warner, Generals in Blue, p. 472; Ezra Warner, Generals in Gray, (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1987) pp. 320-321. ix often deride the officers who came directly from positions of political leadership as usually being poor military leaders. The cases in point often provided are Daniel Sickles from the Union and John B. Floyd from the Confederacy. Both men apparently got involved in the war to enhance their political careers and did not perform well as military leaders. Sickles led his corps to near annihilation at Gettysburg when he disobeyed a direct order from General George Meade. Floyd and his men unceremoniously fled Fort Donelson in early 1862, which weakened its defenses and contributed to its quick surrender to the Union. Jefferson Davis immediately removed him from leadership and Floyd died soon after. 4 Nathaniel Banks, the former governor of Massachusetts, lost 30% of his men when he confronted Stonewall Jackson in the Shenandoah Valley in 1862 despite the fact that the Union force was larger. 5 John Alexander McClernand, a congressman from Illinois, frequently exaggerated his successes on the battlefield and was eventually removed from command. Roger Atkinson Pryor, a congressman from Virginia, was so unpopular with his troops that he was “consigned to 4 Woodworth, No Band of Brothers (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1999) , pp. 137-138; Gabor S. Boritt, The Gettysburg Nobody Knows, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997), p. 91-93. 5 Warner, Generals in Blue, p. 41. x oblivion and resigned.” 6 In fact, many of the politician officers that served as generals during the Civil War, resigned under less than auspicious circumstances or were removed from command.