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 O B E R L I N 
 
 AMERICAN CONFLICT. 
 
 AN ADDRESS DELIVERED BEFORE THE ALUMNI OF OBERLIN 
 COLLECxE, AT THEIR RE-UNION, WEDNESDAY, AUG. 23, I8G5. 
 
 By Prof. J. M. ELLIS. 
 
 OBERLIK, 0: 
 
 PRINTED AT THE "KEWS" OFFICE, 
 i o o ^ 
 
 
Class__E5:ft_L 
 

 O B E R L 1 N 
 
 AMERICAN CONFLICT. 
 
 AN ADDRESS DELIVERED BEFORE THE ALUMNI OF OBERLIN 
 COLLEGE, AT THEIR RE-UNION, WEDNESDAY, AUG. 23, 1860. 
 
 By I>iof. J. ]M:. 
 
 ELLIS. 
 
 Ladies and Gentlemen, Alumni of 
 Oberlin : 
 
 The five years which have passed 
 since our last gathering have been per- 
 haps the most eventful five years known 
 to history. 
 
 Certainly no period of our country's 
 history can be compared with this 
 semi decade just past, for the stupendous 
 changes which have been wrought, and 
 the settlement of issues which will af- 
 fect coming generations and the future 
 condition of the whole human family. 
 And we may well question whether, 
 since the appearance of the world's Re- 
 deemer, the history of any five years 
 can furnish a parellel. If, when we 
 were last assembled here, a prophetic 
 voice had predicted the events which 
 were just before us, the tremendous 
 struggle which we wero to undertake, 
 the vast treasure which was to be ex- 
 pended, the sea of blood which was to 
 crimson the land, and the sacrifices, 
 mourning and suffering which were to 
 visit every household, who of us would 
 have had the faith or the courage to 
 have accepted the prediction and calm- 
 ly awaited the issue 1 Yet we have 
 passed through it all, and never felt, in 
 its full reality, the grandeur and im- 
 portance of tbe struggle. A wiser fore- 
 sight than ours has tempered the storm 
 to our weakness, and, by vlisaster and 
 
 delay, by strength developed in one 
 struggle for the next, educated us to 
 meet it in its wildest fury. Out of the 
 darkness and tempest, we are sailing in- 
 to the quiet harbor of peaf'e. The vic- 
 tory has been won. It is a victory 
 which surpasses the brightest dreams of 
 the enthusiastic lover of libertj'. 
 
 It is fit that the circumstances of the 
 hour should give color tu our meeting, 
 and 
 day. 
 
 We celebrate not merely the achieve- 
 ments of our arms for the four years 
 past, but no less the victory of the 
 moral conflict which for a half century 
 preceded and culminated in the conflict 
 of arms. It is the settlement of what 
 has justly been styled, the American 
 Conflict, As all parties now adnait, it 
 has been the conflict of Freedom with 
 Slavery. It has been the war for the 
 rights of man as man, against the usurp- 
 ation of a boastful, conceited aristocracy. 
 The seeds of it were planted with the 
 first settlement of the country, and the 
 contest has waged with varyiu'r intensi- 
 ty and success through all our history. 
 
 It was thought desir.ble by those who 
 bad the care of arranging for the exer- 
 cises of this occasion that something 
 should be said of the part which Ober- 
 lin has borne in this American coiflict. 
 In this, our family circle, it may not be 
 
-Oz.'c.^ 
 
 unbecoming to speak somewhat freely 
 of what the children have done. It 
 will not seem boastful for us to review 
 the work which wa<j undertaken in the 
 dark days, in the midst of discourage- 
 ment and opposition and obloquy, and, 
 rejoicing in the glorious issue, learn a 
 lesson of trust in the Good Hand which 
 prompted that work, and has now giv- 
 en the success. Nor will it be unsea- 
 sonable to ipeak of the more recent 
 achievement* of those who have gone 
 frnm these halls to the battle field. 
 These reminiscences naturally and prop- 
 erly come first to our minds on this 
 occasion. 
 
 It is impossible not to contrast the 
 state of the public mind and the posi- 
 tion of the great Anti -slavery movement 
 now, with that «f twenty years ago. — 
 Most of us here have lived to see the 
 principles which made Oberlin a hiss- 
 ing and a by-word, and oil connected 
 with Oberlin objects of suspicion and 
 pity, or of fierce abuse and insult, tri- 
 umphant throughout the land. We 
 should seem ungrateful, if we did not 
 recall ths past and take courage for the 
 future. 
 
 The early antislavery history of 
 Oberlin has been fully and ably pre- 
 sented on former occasions, and does 
 not require to be repeated in detail. — 
 An outline of the main features of the 
 work is all that can be in place now. 
 Although the able author of the Amer- 
 ican Covflid has made no mention of 
 any agency or influence in this struggle 
 from Oberlin, still I think the reputa- 
 tion which we have had for twenty-five 
 years*, North and South, with friends 
 and foes, justifies the belief that Ober- 
 lin has had an influence in the struggle, 
 by no means insignificant or temporary. 
 
 If the abolitionists were chargeable 
 with bringing on the war, we certainly 
 had a hand in it, and are verily guilty. 
 Indeed, a large portion of those who 
 have heard of Oberlin have known of 
 it simply in its anti-slavery character. 
 It is probably the common opinion that 
 the anti-slavery work was the primary 
 work and cause of the enterprise. — 
 Those who are better informed know 
 that this work has been only incidental. 
 
 It has been simply a part of the general 
 work of love and benevolence toward 
 all men, which has been inculcated here 
 from the beginning. 
 
 Oberlin was never a pUce of one ideal 
 And the Anti-slavery movement her© 
 never carried its advocates even into 
 the vicinity of those extreme and dan- 
 gerous doctrines which shipwrecked 
 some of the earliest and ablest champi- 
 ons of liberty. The come-outers and 
 extreme radicals who put reform in the 
 place of the gospel, found no where 
 sterner opponents than here, in this hot 
 bed of abolitionism. The question of 
 slavery and anti-slavery did not in fact 
 enter into the original plan of the colo- 
 ny and school at all. It was not then a^ 
 question before the country. But the 
 anti -slavery character grew from the- 
 principles of self denial and benevolence 
 on which the school was founded, a» 
 naturally as a tre^. yields its fruits 
 Good will to men and devotion to im- 
 proving and saving them was the great 
 end which brought the Fathers from 
 comfortable homes and positions of in- 
 fluence and honor in New P^ngland, to 
 lay in the forests of the wilderness 
 foundations of institutions that might 
 bless the broad West. The whole 
 community was composed of those who 
 had sacrificed their personal ease and 
 prospects at the call of duty. And 
 when the question of our duties to the 
 slave was presented and fairly consider- 
 ed, the colony naturally arrayed itself 
 on the side of the oppressed. The An- 
 ti-slavery cause was put on the same 
 footing with the Missionary work, with 
 the Temperance reform, with the duty 
 of economy and self-denial for sending 
 the gospel and enlightenment to the 
 poor as well as the rich, and all the du- 
 ties growing out of the law ot love to 
 our neighbor. And there the subject 
 has always been placed by Oberlin men 
 —as one department of Christian duty. 
 The question was mada practical at an 
 early day by the decision of the Trustees 
 of the College to admit students to 
 equal privileges without regard to color. 
 This was a great step in its day, and 
 created as earnest discussion, and, on 
 the part of some, as gloomy misgiv- 
 ings as the question of negro suEfrage in 
 
3 
 
 onr time. This settled the anti-slavery 
 character of the place. 
 
 The arrival of the Cincinnati rebels, 
 jiist from their furnace of afflicliou, in- 
 tensified the elements, and twenty 
 nights of burning elotjuence from a 
 youthful champion of the slave, who is 
 with us to-day — with a quarter of cen- 
 tury of new experience — to rejoice in 
 the. triumph of the cause of his youth, 
 stamped the new principles indelibly 
 upon the place. 
 
 It was not merely in its anti-slavery 
 character that Oberlin was opposed to 
 the power that made war upon the na- 
 tion. The opposition was mors deeply 
 seated and fundamental. That pwwer 
 was aristocratic and exclusive. Ober- 
 lin was essentially popular and demo- 
 cratic. It was its grand aim to furnish 
 education to the masses. It opened 
 its doors to the poor, ibepoverof the 
 rebellion was with the rich. And thus 
 the influence of the work here was in 
 direct antagonism with the spirit of 
 caste and pride which characterized the 
 slave power North and South. 
 
 And further, it was a radical doctrine 
 here that labor was honorable, and the 
 laborer worthy of any position which 
 society could oiler him. Learning and 
 Labor is the motto of the College in- 
 scribed upon its seal, and s-iving tone to 
 the whole movement. Manual labor 
 was at the beginning not only respected, 
 but made a part of the training, and 
 from the beginning to this d.-^y, this re- 
 spect has been maintained. The high- 
 est positions in scholarship and in the 
 esteem of teachers and students have 
 always been open to and oftenest won 
 by those who earned their bread with 
 the sweat of the brow. The great mass 
 of all the ten thousand who have gone 
 forth from these schools, have gone 
 with this respect for honest toil, in-bred 
 by precept and practice, ard carried in- 
 to ail parts of the land an influence to 
 foster and create the same respect eve- 
 rywhere. And so, by what power she 
 had, Oberlin has opposed the growing 
 strength of the slaveholding aristocracy 
 which despises labor and the laborer. 
 The faction which lifted its hand to 
 overthrow our free institutions degraded 
 labor and the laborer to the place of a 
 
 chattel, to be the property of capital. 
 They looked with equal contempt upon 
 the greasy mechanics of the North and 
 the whip driven slave of the South. 
 
 The influence of the place in this 
 moral warfare has been made effective 
 in various fields and by diverse agencies. 
 At an early day the long winter vaca- 
 tions were improved by the more ad- 
 vanced students, as well as by teachers, 
 in lecture tours through this and neigh- 
 boring states. Where ever the cause of 
 the slave could obtain a hearing, their 
 voices were raised in his behalf. Dis- 
 trict school houses, town halls, and oc- 
 casionally a meeting house were opened 
 to them, or by them, and the truth un- 
 thought of and often unwelcome, was 
 urued upon all who would listen. And 
 it was often not a mere war of words. 
 The violence of the barbarism was not 
 inactive even at that early day. The 
 lecturer often went out with his life in 
 his hand. The most moderate utter- 
 ances of anii-slavery sentiment were 
 greeted with angry threats and bitter 
 perFonal abuse. The assemblies were 
 broken up by mob violence, the speak- 
 ers were personally maltreated, and not 
 infrequently put in peril of their lives. 
 There were but few in any place who 
 dared to befriend them. These men 
 were not fanatics or extremists. Their 
 views would seem to be moderate and 
 temporizing now. There are those 
 here to-day who can tell more of those 
 days of trial with their scenes of frenzy 
 and outrage than I can relate. When 
 they recall those perilous and despised 
 labors, and the midnight in which they 
 were performed, and compare it with 
 the grand triumph of to-day, they can 
 hardly believe what their eyes have 
 seen. They will surely say t'> us, who 
 are younger than those scenes, that we 
 may expect anything hereafter. Our 
 brightest dreams will scarce equal what 
 we may yet hope to see in nality. 
 
 But these early workers did not con- 
 fine t'leir efforts to public har.ingues and 
 the general advocacy of the truth. — 
 They did not merely open the doors of 
 the college and proffer education to the 
 despised race. They went out to look 
 them up and lift them up wherever 
 they were to be found. Cultivated k- 
 
dies of senKitive delicacy and refioe- 
 metit went from Oberlin to Cincinnati, 
 and opened schools for colored children, 
 when they could not find a lespectahle 
 white family in the city in which 
 to board. Throughout this state and 
 the neighboring states, teachers went 
 out to- this neglected and oppressed 
 class, and everywhere they went to 
 meet with obloquy and opposition from 
 most of the com'Tiunity. The effect of 
 this work was not cotjfinpd to the ad- 
 vantage it furnished for tha colored 
 people to learn, hut more extensive and 
 powerful was its influence in calling at- 
 tention to the wrong which we were 
 doing to this class, and the enormity 
 of the crime which held them in igno- 
 rance and degradation. We can never 
 know all t'le harvest of that seed time. 
 
 Then with the lecturing and teaching 
 went the influence of an anti-slavery 
 Gospel. The ministers who were sent 
 forth from Oberlin, went with the 
 Gospel for the po.>r, and fully imbued 
 with the conviction that they were not 
 to spare any iniquity in high places or 
 )ow. It was seldom that there was 
 cue, even of the most earnpst, who 
 made the sir. of slavery especially prom- 
 inent. It was set down, with all other 
 wrongs, among the flagrant violations 
 of the great law f love. It was called 
 by name and rebuked without fear. — 
 The duties of Chti.-*tiar;s to the slave 
 -were put on the same fooling with du- 
 ties to the disti-int heathen. The ques- 
 tion sometimes disturbed the peace of 
 the churches. There was vso much fear 
 of touching the ^^ubject, and so much 
 political and social complicity with the 
 iniquity in nearly all the churobe-s, that 
 the bare mention of it in the most mod- 
 <8rate form in the puljMt could hardly 
 be toleiated. Sora«time.«, perhaps, 
 more discretion and charity might have 
 been employed in dealing with the sub- 
 ject. But of the honesty and good in- 
 tention and self-forgetfulness of those 
 who pressed this uowelcome truth, 
 there can be no question. 
 
 And no more can there be doubt as to 
 the extent and ultimate benefit of the 
 Jesuits of their labors. Churches were 
 divided, and hard words were sjjoken. 
 But Uie stupor and indifference towards 
 
 this great iniquity wer,- dissipated. 
 Men's consciences were quickened. 
 Discussion was aroused. Light shone 
 where there had been darkness. Opin- 
 ions were changed, and years ago the 
 distinction between the free churches 
 and the old church disappeared. All 
 the churches ot our order took ground 
 quite up to that which in the beginning 
 seemed so dangerous and radical. 
 
 To meet what was thought to be a 
 demand for a free gospel at home and 
 abroad, the American Missionary 
 Association was organized. 
 
 Oberlin furnished its Foreign Secretary 
 and a large portion of its Missionaries. 
 Under its patronage, Oberlin students 
 carried the war into Africa, established 
 free churches in the slave states, and 
 laid the foundation for schools open to 
 all. They carried the doctrines of the 
 golden rule to the dark borders of the 
 Free states . and to the Indians on the 
 west. They did something in Africa 
 toward cutting off th:j supplies of the 
 slave trade, and resisting the further 
 extension of the system. Oberlin may 
 take some crfdit for what ever of good 
 that Association has accomplished, and 
 DOW in its day of prosperity, under the 
 able direction of two of her children, 
 with half a continent for its field of 
 work, and the whole body of Congrega- 
 tional Churches for its supporters, Ober- 
 lin rejoices and blesses God for what 
 it has wrought. 
 
 In the political field, the influence of 
 Oberlin has not been insignificant. It 
 was never heresy here to preach poli- 
 tics. The Moral philosophy taught 
 here does not distinguish between moral 
 duties and political duties. Political 
 action was a part cf every man's religion. 
 And so the influence of the place was 
 at the beginning cast for the Third party, 
 which was the product of the manifest 
 subserviency of both of the great politi- 
 cal parties to the slave power. At the 
 first election in which the Third party 
 presented a ticket in 1840, all but & 
 small minority of the votes of this 
 place, by citizens and students, were 
 cast for James G. Birney for President, 
 and at every election since that minori- 
 ty has grown relatively less. The po- 
 litical power of the community was 
 
tnore efficient from the fact that it held 
 the balance of power between the two 
 old parties in the county, and was thua 
 able to exercise a controlling influence 
 in theselect'on of candidates for Legis- 
 latnre and Congress. A member of the 
 Lesisiature, one of the Trustees of the 
 College, elected p.iriially through the 
 influence of this place, held a similar 
 biilance «f power between the parties in 
 the Legislature, and used it to send 
 Salmon P. Chase to the U. S. Senate. 
 It is a salisfaclion to remember that 
 from that day to this, the itfluence of 
 that distinguished man, in a continuous 
 series of responsible public posiiions, 
 has never failed to be given for freedom 
 and equal justice to all. And we may 
 rfijoicB to-day that, by the strange provi- 
 dence of God, we had any part in 
 bringing such a man to the high seat 
 which he now holds, on whose decision 
 mure than upon any other person may 
 depend ihe final issues in this conflict of 
 freedom and slavery. 
 
 In more recent times, one of our 
 Professors, who had been distinguished 
 from liis youth for his ability and zeal 
 as an atiti-slavery lecturer, has been 
 elected repeatedly to the State Legisla- 
 ture, and exerted a leading and con- 
 trolling influence in the political action 
 of the state. Another has labored in 
 season and out of season in moulding 
 and creating ri^ht public sentiment on 
 the great questions of these times, and 
 exerted an influence not confined lo the 
 state lines. Both of these men are now 
 representatives of the iiaiion and of 
 Oberlin in Foreign courts. 
 
 But none of these special agencies or 
 dep-utinents of labor illusirate or em- 
 body the greatest power of Oberlin in 
 the coiiflict with the elaveholding spirit. 
 The lecturing, colored schools, anti- 
 slavery preaching, ami political action 
 are the tangible and more obvious re- 
 sults and agencies. But more effective 
 and more extensive than any or all of 
 these, bus been, the silent influence of 
 the practical equality and freedom from 
 prejudice which have been here illus- 
 trated. The colored man has been 
 recog'iized and treated as a man. In 
 the school he was early put on an 
 equality with his white brother. Abroad 
 
 this fact excited more commeiit and 
 more discussion and opposition than all 
 the others combined. And here it 
 changed the prejudices and sentiments 
 of the great mass of all who came under 
 its power. It has not been acti-slavery 
 preaching or anti slavery instruction in 
 the school, or in public lectures that af- 
 fected the thousands that have thronged 
 hire for learning. It has been the nat- 
 ural effect of meeting the colored man 
 in the class room, seeing his ability and 
 humanity, meeting him in discussion 
 and feeling bis po ver, of treating him 
 as a man, that has wrought the change. 
 And this influence has been potent and 
 effective on the great miijority of all 
 who have studied here. As a rule, the 
 students from Oberlin have been found 
 on the right side, through all this previ- 
 ous struggle. Whatever their prejudices 
 or education, few havespentany consid- 
 erable time here and gone away the 
 enemy of the colored man and the 
 friend of his oppressors. They have 
 carried with theiu into every part of 
 the country the impressions and views 
 which their experience hero taught 
 them. And this has been by far the 
 weightiest blow which Oberlin has 
 wielded in the struggle. It is safe to 
 say that ten thousand advocates for the 
 oppressed against the oppressor hive 
 gone forth from these lialls. Th«y 
 have been men and women of more than 
 ordinary education and enterprise, — 
 They hava had the influence which 
 knowledge gives. As teachers, lawyers, 
 men of business, farmers, and in every 
 sphere of activity, they have made 
 their influence felt. Who will estimate 
 its results ? Figures will not compute 
 them. The forces are net material or 
 tangible, and the out-come cannot be 
 told. 
 
 The warfare with th'3 iniquity has 
 not always beun confined to these peace- 
 ful and moral agencies. Before a gun 
 was fired at Sumpter, the slave power 
 had sought its ends and st^cured its 
 victims by violence and force. 
 
 Besides the mobs which endeavored 
 to si.ence the early ditcussion and ad- 
 vocacy of the truth, and intimidate the 
 friends of liberty, the spirit of slavery 
 wreaked its fury on a number of the 
 
6 
 
 fearly stuc^ehts of Oberlin',- ^fio dared to 
 encounter the anger of the beast in hiff 
 own lair. One was cast into prison in 
 Missouri, another for many weary 
 yea's was torlured in the Penitentiary 
 of Kentucky, and a lady, in the same 
 state, tor alleged assi-tance to a fugitive 
 was chivalrously cast into prison with 
 the lowest felons. 
 
 A missionary, who had gathered 
 about him a con<:regaiion and was 
 preaching to them with great acceptance 
 and success in the hills of Kentucky, 
 was waylaid by a conspiracy, disgrace- 
 fully maltreated, and barely escaped 
 with his life, because he had dared to 
 speak a word for llie slave. Others 
 were driven from the same state as the 
 storm of the rebellion was culminating. 
 
 The Kansas war was largely aided 
 by recruits and money from Oberlin. 
 And among the first ministers whose 
 voices were heard in the Territory were 
 those who had gone from this place. 
 Some of them fought through the battle 
 there, first with the Bible, and when 
 that failed with Sharpe's rifle, and are 
 at their posts yet. 
 
 In harboring and helping forward the 
 fugitive, more than in other work, 
 Oberlin came into direct conflict with 
 the slaveholder. This was always a 
 prominent station on the Under-ground 
 R. R., while that Co. was in existence. 
 It was in this character that the place 
 was known throughout all the South 
 which furnished passengers for the 
 above route. In this business, the 
 minions of the slave power frequently 
 came in contact not to say in conflict 
 with the peaceful and peaceable inhab- 
 itants of this village. No case of vio- 
 lence, of bloodshed, or blows, so far as 
 I know, ever occurred. But every arti- 
 fice of warfare was practiced on both 
 sides. The best ingenuity was taxed 
 to deliver the hunted fugitive from the 
 hands of the pursuer. There were spies 
 in the heart ot the camp, and the mas- 
 ter was sometimes detained at the door 
 while the slave escaped from a window, 
 and sometimes even had his hands up- 
 on his victim, ' ut no slave was ever 
 carried back from Oberlin to his fetters 
 again. 
 
 Even the tyrannical power of the 
 
 i'ugitiye Slave Law, enforced with the 
 a-nthority of the general government, 
 failed to secure a victim. The memory 
 •J the Wellington rescue case is fresh in 
 the minds of all. The fugitive, already 
 in the hands of his pursuers, was res- 
 cued, as a noted general proposed to 
 crush the rabeliion, by a show of force 
 and the awe of numbers. The occa- 
 sion was seized upon by the slave pow- 
 er which inspired and controlled the 
 Federal Government, as a fit one to ad- 
 mmister a lesson to the freedom loving 
 Reserve ai.d a final quietus upon the 
 troublesome activity of Obtirlin. There 
 is no time to recount the history of the 
 attempt. The forces were mustered, 
 a large number, including a Professor 
 in the College, the superintendent of 
 the S. S., a lawyer, and other business 
 men were indicted, arrested, thrown in- 
 to jail. One was tried, convicted and 
 sentenced for the violation of the Fugi- 
 tive Slave Law. The spirit of North- 
 ern Ohio was aroused. This odious law 
 was detested more profoundly than 
 ever. All who were eng^iged in its 
 execution were under the bitterest op- 
 probrium of the best part of the com- 
 munity. When finally the people 
 gathered in mass in tlie city of Cleve- 
 land, and gave expression to their indig- 
 nation, and six hundred S. S. scholars 
 went to carry their greetings to their 
 superintendent in jail, and the witnesses 
 from Keniucky became alarmed for 
 their own safety, being indicted in the 
 County Court for kidnapping, and like- 
 ly to visit the Penitentiary themselves, 
 the pressure became too strong to be 
 resisted. The Prosecuting Attorney 
 gave up the cases, the Rescuers came 
 home triumphant. The blow of the 
 slaveiower had recoiled upon its own 
 head, and it was more thoroughly hated 
 and abhorred than ever. The Repub- 
 lican parly of the state was lifted to a 
 new and higher platform, and consoli- 
 dated in its opposition to the growing 
 iniquity of the land. 
 
 It is but a step from the Fugitive 
 Slave Law to the open rebellion which 
 it preceded. The same spirit which 
 demanded the obsequious and humili- 
 ating assistance of the North in slave 
 catching which that law commanded, 
 
demanded secession aLd wholesale rob- 
 bery ten years later. The effect of the 
 war which was inaugurated at this peri- 
 od, upon the College, and the part 
 which the Alumni and students of the 
 College have borne in its achievements, 
 are matters too recent to be counted 
 bistorical. But it is not an inappropri- 
 ate time to review briefly these facts, 
 and gain some just idea of what we have 
 really done. 
 
 Oberlin, with the rest of the loyal 
 country, had not believed that there 
 would be war. The first gun upon 
 Sumpter was au unwelcome surprise. 
 The call for troops followed, and at 
 once the question of adjusting affairs to 
 a state of war became a practical neces- 
 sity. It was not to be expected that a 
 place which had been so long and ac- 
 tively engaged with the slave power 
 would be an idle or indifferent specta- 
 tor, when the National Government took 
 up the contest and called for help.— 
 Those who had sneered years before, 
 now tauntingly remarked, Oberlin has 
 been valiant in words, let us see how 
 she will stand when it comes to deeds. 
 Thanks to the patriotism of her sons, 
 old and new, she has mnde good her 
 teaching in the deadly breach. The 
 moral heroes of the early days are well 
 matched in the soldiers "of to-day. 
 No school in t 'e country, probably, has 
 been so deeply affected by the demands 
 of the war. Certainly none of the col- 
 leges of equal age and stability. And 
 none have a prouder record. The 
 authorities of the College never felt at 
 liberty to urge those who were under 
 their cart to enter the irray. They en- 
 deavored to sustain the relation of par- 
 ents to the student, and to keep duly 
 in mind the importance of sustaining in 
 vigorous operation a school like tbis, 
 which should prepare laborers for ihe 
 harvest field which the war was lik«Iv 
 to open, as well as the value of edu- 
 cated young men, and the imp.)rtance 
 of using their talent wisely. Yet, when 
 the country called, and the great issue 
 was being made up^ they did not dare 
 to throw any obstacle in the way of a 
 hearty and prompt response. The 
 spirit of patriotism and devotion to sav- 
 ing the ntlioD has never lagged. It was 
 
 warm and effective from the first and 
 only required to be directed and re<»u- 
 lated. 
 
 The first act of the Faculty was to 
 suspend the law long in force that no 
 student should become a member of 
 any military company. Permission was 
 given for a meeting of students in 
 which citizens also participated, to con- 
 sider what measures should be taken to 
 respond at once to the President's call 
 for 75 001) men. At a second mee/ing, 
 the roll was opened for enlistments for 
 three months, A large numbr of 
 names were enrolled, and $10,000 were 
 pledged by the citizens of the place to 
 assist in furnishing and sustaining those 
 who should go. The interest was so 
 intense that the enrollment list was 
 sought out during the next day, which 
 was Sunday, by multitudes eager to get 
 an early place on it, and Monday morn- 
 ing fou..d one hundred and thirty names 
 enrolled for a company whose maxi- 
 mum was supposed to be eighty. one. 
 The press was so great that a second 
 company was organized and its roll soon 
 filled in the same manner. And it was 
 not a mere fancy or excitement that ef- 
 fected the result. It, was serious, sober 
 principle ol the part of a large portion, 
 at least,^ Two instances will illustrate 
 the spirit of even the youngest. 
 
 The names of all students passed un- 
 der the inspection of a committee of 
 the Faculty, who took from the roll 
 any who were minors and could not or 
 had not consulted with their parents or 
 guardians as to the step, I shall never 
 forget the appearance of two young 
 men who came before the committee to 
 remonstrate with them tor erasing' 
 their names. One, apparently a mere 
 boy, was the son of an early settler in 
 Ober.in, whose friends were then in the 
 distant East. With half angry and 
 half tearful emotion, he inquired why 
 his name was withheld. He was told 
 of the importance of securing his 
 parent's consent in so serious step. "Mv 
 mother taught me from my childhood 
 to hate slavery, and iuf-tiUed into my 
 mind the very principles for which we 
 are now called to fight, and I l-now she 
 will not call me from fulfilling her in- 
 strucliond cow. I must go, aud I mun 
 
go now. If 1 caunofc go with this corn • 
 pany, I must enlist elsewhere." A.nd 
 so he went. His health suffered, and 
 he was taken home, but his energy re- 
 mained, and against all obstacles he was 
 boon in the work again, and good ser- 
 vice did he do on many a field. 
 
 The other was a quiet, pale-faced 
 youth, seuthere by ladies of Mr. Beech- 
 er's church, to prepare for the min s- 
 try. Brought up in the store and school, 
 he appeared as frail and delicate as a 
 woman. With eraotlns Lot to be sup- 
 pressed, he inquired why he had been 
 cut off. The reply that he was not 
 able to go, aLd that he ought not to 
 abandon his patrons without their 
 knowledge, did not change his purpose 
 or diminish his ardor. He hastened to 
 the telegraph, sent an earnest despatch, 
 and waited anxiously a reply. It was 
 two days when, with i^lowing counte- 
 nance, he brought us the answer. "Gb, 
 and God bless you." With willing 
 heart he went, and wiih all his soul ha 
 became a t-oldier. He soon rose from a 
 private to the command of his company, 
 the best soldier nerhaps, which it coi'i- 
 tained, and beJoie a year had passed, 
 he was brought back 'from the field of 
 Winchester and we laid him to rest on 
 yonder hill. 
 
 Atjd so it u„6 with all. There was 
 never a thought ot position or pay.— 
 Theological. College and Preparatory 
 student and citizen stood on the same 
 ieve!. A member of the Faculty, the 
 Tutor of Latin, was elected Oajitain. 
 'I'he scenes which transpired as that 
 Company prepared to leave can never 
 pass from m^injy — the class gjther- 
 ings, the prayer meetings, wheie lips 
 unused to pr lyer were U'isealed and 
 numbers enii.sied as soldiers of Christ. 
 It was a revival season blessed to those 
 who went and those who staid behind. 
 For the only time during the war, the 
 regular operations and lecitations ol the 
 college were intennjUed. The whole 
 communily joined to'fi' out the soldiers 
 with becoming and comfortable uni- 
 lortns. It was a solemn event when all 
 the people gathered at the depot to bid 
 that band adieu. Wo were sending 
 them to untried, but real dangers.— 
 Though ihey were going but for a few 
 
 weeks, we knew they would not all 
 come back. The second company was 
 not accepted and soon disbanded.— 
 That first Co. was mora peculiarly ours 
 than any other has been, and its history 
 WAS watched with profonnder interest. 
 It was composed almost entirely of 
 students and of the best students which 
 the College could furnish. It became 
 a part of the 7th Reg. O. V. I., com- 
 manded by Col. E. B. Tyler, and will 
 always be known here as " Co, C." 
 They were soon called upon to enlist 
 for three years or for the war. This 
 was the most serious question which 
 had presented itself. Should they give 
 up the purpose of their life to secure an 
 education on which they had already 
 spent the best years of' their jouth J 
 There were those who had consjcrated 
 themselves to the work of the Mission- 
 ary, and others to preaching the Gospel 
 at home, and were now almost at the 
 goal] It was my fortune to ba with 
 them in Camp when this quRstion was 
 being decided. And I know of the 
 conflicts and struggles through which 
 the most earnest and conscientious often 
 passed. It was an experience to be re- 
 membered, those moral heroes making 
 the decision of their life or death. It wa's 
 simply a question of what was duty, and 
 the world never witi;essed anoblerexhi- 
 tion of disinterested self-sacrifice. The 
 battles were all fought and the victory 
 won in that decision. They gave their 
 lives and their all when the large major- 
 ity of the 101 gave in their names for 
 the war. There is no time to follow 
 them in detail through their eventful 
 history. Four years ago today as wo 
 were celebrating these anniversaries, 
 and eulogizing the patriotism of this 
 devoted band, the Telegraph brought 
 the tidings that they had been surprised 
 by over-powering numbers, two of their 
 officers ylain, and the Company well 
 nigh annihilated, at Cross L,Hnos, Wes- 
 tern Va. We had not learned equanim- 
 ity then, or to receive with large allow- 
 ance the first accounts of disister. And 
 thi.H report cast a gloom over all our fofi 
 tivi;ies and brought a heavy sadnesi to 
 many a househuld of Oberlin. It wa< 
 many days before the truth was known, 
 and though far from as disastrous ai at 
 
first reported, the result was 3ad enough. 
 The Captain was unhurt, but cap- 
 fiured with over thirty of his Conopany. 
 .A number were wounded. Two of 
 these died within a few days ; Jeakina 
 and Collins. They were our first mar- 
 tyr:J, and the sacrifice seemed a great 
 one. The former, a model Christian 
 scholar, was a member of the gradua- 
 ting class, and h\^ name was being call 
 ed for the First Degree here, as he was 
 summoned to a higher honor in another 
 sphere. The rest of the Company es- 
 caped, and after strange experiences of 
 hunger atjd daog-r and wandering for 
 days and weeks in the mountains of 
 Virginia, they mot again in our lines. 
 The captives experienced all the rigor 
 and abuse and insults of the haughty 
 slave driver, already aggravated by the 
 success at Ball Run. For twelve 
 months they endured exposures and 
 starvation which are only parallelled in 
 the more recent barbarities too familiar 
 to us. 
 
 Two of the number fell victims to 
 this cruelty. One of them in particular, 
 \Vm. Watt Parmenter, a member of the 
 Senior Class when he enlisteil, was a 
 man of the greatest promise. He pos- 
 se-sed talent of the highest order, and 
 exhibited whi'e in the field qualities 
 which would have given him, if he 
 had baeij spared, a high position as a 
 soldier, and made liim an honor to his 
 Alma Mater and t'j his country. 
 
 The Comjiany, notwitiistacdiug this 
 serious blow made subsequently an il- 
 lustrious record. Besides numerous 
 sUinmshes it took active pan in a loog 
 list of pitched battles. Among others 
 at Winchester, Port Republic, Cedar 
 Mountain, Antietira, The Wilderness, 
 Dumfries, Ijookout Mountain and Ring- 
 gold. It maintained the highest stand- 
 ing for its bravery and suidierly con- 
 duct, and w-is distinguished above all 
 for its moral and reiigious character. I 
 do m t recall an itistance in which a 
 student frono Obarlin did not honor his 
 name and the piiiicii)les here inculcated. 
 Wlien their ranks had been thinned by 
 capture and d'-aih, and they had passed 
 through all the corrufting tendencits 
 and temptations of their new life for a 
 year, surrounded with Godless men 
 
 and officers on every side, T saw them 
 in their tents in the heart of Virginia, 
 and nightly from the six tents of Co. 
 C, went uo the voice of song and the 
 voice of prayer, aa they bowed them- 
 selves around their fumily altars. It 
 was a s'range sound in a camp of thirty 
 thousand men. They were known as 
 the pr tying Company, and the fame of 
 their meetings was spread through all 
 that army. The list of mortality in 
 the Company is a singular testimony to 
 the value of temperate habits and in- 
 tellectual training in securing power of 
 endurance and the best soldierly quali- 
 ties. During three years of the most 
 arduous and active service, out of one 
 hundred aLd fiftj' students, who were 
 at different times members of Co. C, 
 but three fell by disease, and two of 
 those three died in Southern prisons. 
 It is doubtful if the army can furnish 
 many parallels. Twenty-eight fell in 
 battle, fifteen were discharged on ac- 
 count of wounds, and many other? 
 wounded slightly. Fifteen were pro- 
 moted to Commissioned oSicers in oth- 
 er regiments. At the expiiaiion of its 
 term of service, scarce a trace of its 
 original composition remained. Its 
 Captain after a twelvemonth's imprison- 
 ment served with distinction, r's Inspec- 
 tor General, on the staff of Geo. Wil- 
 cox, was appointed Lient.-Col., and af- 
 terwards Colonel of the 5th U. S. C. T., 
 which officered almost etitirel}"- by 
 Oberliu men, he made, with their 
 help, one of tha best regiments in the 
 service, and lately escaped a Brig. -Gen- 
 eralship which was ou its way to liim, 
 by returning to the work which he left 
 here four years ago. Oihers of this 
 Company gained personal distinction 
 worthy of notice, did time permit. 
 The history of Co. C is a part of the 
 hi^tory of Oberlin. We have been hon- 
 ored in its honor — we have wept its 
 brave dead and novv follow its survivors 
 w ih our g'atitude and admiration. 
 This was Oberlin's fi'St couiribunon to 
 the conflict, and it was watched with 
 something of the pride and interest 
 which belongs to the first horn. It was 
 only the beginning ot many noble bac- 
 rifices laid upon the same altar. A few 
 months later Oberliu and vicinity sent a 
 
10 
 
 Company to the 41st 0. V, I., and 
 amoDo; them a former student who has 
 occupied numerous posts of distinction, 
 and if still at work on the staff of the 
 Commander of the 4th Corps, with rank 
 of Major. About the same time a num- 
 ber of students and citizens entered the 
 2J O. V. C, in which they fought from 
 the Mississippi to the Indian Territory 
 ftnd ail the way back along the whole 
 line of the Confederacy to Danville, 
 Va., and back again to the farther bor- 
 ders of Missouri, One of them fell as 
 the last blow was struck, which gave to 
 Sheridan the victory at Five Forks aad 
 Richmond and Lee's Army and the 
 Confederacy. Two of them rose from 
 privates to Captains, and a third from 
 the same condition came to command 
 the Regiment as Colonel, followed Sher- 
 idan in his victorios of the valley of the 
 Shenandoah — around Richmond and to 
 the last grandest victory of all, receiv- 
 ing the highest commendation from his 
 Commanding-General, as standing 
 among the very few best officers of his 
 Division. 
 
 The second year of the war another 
 Company went from Oberlin, composed 
 of citizens and students, under the com- 
 mand of a graduate and a member of 
 the Theological Department to join the 
 103d Regiment. The Captain soon rose 
 to the command of the Regiment, serv- 
 ed wiih distinction in the campaigns iu 
 Tennessee and Georgia, for the last vear 
 acted as Provost General of Schofield's 
 army, with his Regiment for guard, and 
 brought back the brave survivors a few 
 days ago to their homes. The same 
 year when Cincinnati was threatened 
 nearly all the College students, able to 
 bear arms, with many preparatory stu- 
 dents and citizens marched on a few 
 hours notice, provisioned and equipped 
 wi.h arms and ammunition, to the de- 
 fense of the Queen City. For several 
 weeks they encamped around abou' her 
 and cast up defenses till the danger was 
 passed, and they were sent home with 
 honor. At such times the College dis- 
 covered a new advantage in the joint 
 education of the sexes, when the ladies 
 almost alone kept the machinery of the 
 classes in operation. We should often 
 have been lonesome without them du- 
 
 ring the four years past. In the year 
 following, when Gen, Banks was driven 
 down the Valley and Washington was 
 in danger, another Company was sent 
 out, commanded by students and large- 
 ly composed of them. They were 
 pushed at once to the front, relieved 
 older regiments, had several skirmishes 
 with the enemy, and were at last inclu- 
 ded in the disgraceful surrender of Har- 
 per's Ferry, which enabled the Rebels 
 to escape at Antietam. And last year, 
 when Ohio put her forty regiments into 
 the field in less than two weeks, and 
 enabled Gen. Grant to fight it out on 
 that line to Richmond — and to the death 
 of the Confederacy, Oberlin sent her 
 Company, a second Co. C. They were 
 joined with Cleveland to form the 150th 
 Regiment of National Guards, and were 
 almost the only company of the Guards 
 in Virginia, who had a taste of fij;hting 
 in the attack of Early upon Washing"- 
 ton. They proved good metal, and 
 man)' of them have since seen harder 
 service in other regiments. Besides 
 these companies, every call for troops 
 has been answered by many from these 
 halls. They went as privates and oiE- 
 cers. Two commanded companies in 
 the 105th Regiment, 0, V. I., one a 
 company in the lOlh O. V, C, one as 
 Major in the 12th O. V. C. In nearly 
 every Western regiment they were to 
 be found. 
 
 Few Colleges were as sensitive to the 
 calls of the country as ours. During 
 the first two years it was a serious dis- 
 turbance. The classes seemed oftoia 
 likely to be entirely broken up, and on-* 
 ly the presence of the ladies who could 
 not volunteer, and great care, could keep' 
 the spirit of the classes in working or- 
 der. For the last two years we have 
 learned to be more calm, and adjusted 
 ourselves to the condition of waf, 80 
 that there has been less disturbing force. 
 The number of students has been re- 
 duced on the average about one-third 
 since the war began, being somewhat on 
 the gain for the last two years. The 
 decrease of gentlemen has been more 
 than this, perhaps two-fifths. 
 
 Among the Alumni of the College 
 there has not been so large a number 
 connected with the army, perhaps, as 
 
11 
 
 we might expect from the members 
 who have gone from the school itself. 
 A very large proportion of the early 
 graduates arc ministers and in other po- 
 sitions from which few comparatively 
 have been drawn into the army. But a 
 good number will be found among the 
 country's defenders from the Alumni. 
 And if they lack anything in numbers, 
 they will niiake it up in distinction and 
 usefulness. Many are found as Chap- 
 lains, a number as officers of Colored 
 regiments. One commanded as Colonel 
 an Iowa regiment, led them through 
 the campaigns in Missouri and Arkan- 
 sas, and for a year past has been dis- 
 pensing justice as Judge of the Provost 
 Court of the Department of Arkansas, 
 greatly to the acceptance of the people 
 and the restoration of order. 
 
 Another was distinguished by notice 
 in an order of the Commanding-Gener- 
 al, for the bravery and skill with which 
 he led his regiment in an attack on 
 Richmoml. Another, a man of marked 
 ability and great promise, having gained 
 the distinction of being, by far, the best 
 Captain of his regiment, fell in the 
 charge upo'i Petersburgh. 
 
 Another, of whom I must speak 
 moderately, lest he should hear of it, 
 was appointed Brig. -Gen. at the first 
 alarm of war, labored night and day in 
 organizing the first regiments from Ohio 
 out of nothing, resiored south- wes- 
 tern Virginia to the Union so that it 
 has remained — led his army to the de- 
 fence of Washington after ttie disastrous 
 campaign of the Peninsula and of 
 Gen. Pope — took command of the 9ch 
 Army Corps on the death of Gen. Reno 
 at South Mountain— commanded this 
 corps, which formed the whole left wing 
 (;f the army at the Battle of Antietara 
 —drove the Rebels from Stone Bridge 
 and up the hill-side for a mile or more, 
 and would have finished them tne sec- 
 ond day, if Gen. McClellan had said 
 the word — was promoted by the Presi- 
 ident to a M .jor-Generalship for distin- 
 guished services in these two ba'tles 
 hut dropped by the politicians in the 
 Senate six months after, for the want of 
 some one to manage the wires, I sup- 
 pose — commanded in the Department 
 of Ohio— led the 23d Army Corps un- 
 
 der Burnside in Tennessee — followed 
 Sherman in his three months battle into 
 Georgia — was entrusted with the ad- 
 vance across the Chatahoochee, which 
 secured Atlanta a sure prize— comram- 
 ded the rear of Thomaw' Army retreat- 
 ing before Hood, dealt him the stunning 
 blow at Franklin, which Gen. Thomas 
 said saved Nashville and our whole 
 army — aclieved what you all know in 
 North Carolina, and is now detailed to 
 take charge of the State of Ohio. We 
 have, no occasion to be ashamed of him. 
 It is impossible to state with exact- 
 ness the number of persons connected 
 with the army, who have at some time 
 been students here. Every one who 
 has been in the armies of the East or 
 West knows that it was hard to go 
 amiss of an OberUn man . Of those who 
 have been members of the permaneni 
 classes, we know with more certainty. 
 Taking the catalogue of 1861, the first 
 year of the war, we find that of 166 
 genthmen in the four College classes, 
 100, or 60 per cent , have been in the 
 army as soldiers. We doubt if any 
 college catalogue can show a better re- 
 cord °than this. Ot Alumni and th-i 
 under graduates in the College claises. 
 wo count 197 who have served in 
 the army. Among these, two Major 
 Generals, one Urig. General, ten Colo- 
 nels, and officers of lower grades in 
 larger proporiion. Of those who have 
 been connected with the Preparatory 
 Department, our estimate can only ap- 
 proximate the exact figures. Suppos- 
 in'^' that those ol whom we do not 
 kjow positirely have gone in the same 
 proportion as those of whom .ve do 
 know, we have not leas than 550 from 
 tti'.s department, giving a total of 850 
 of the representatives of Oberliu in the 
 army. The great maiority of these en- 
 listed without a selfish consideration. 
 Even those who were far advanced in 
 their course and many of whom had 
 been leading men as teachers or preach- 
 ers, entere i the ranks side by side with 
 the ignorant and uncultivated sons of 
 toil, "if the list of oliicers should be 
 found disproportionately small, as I do 
 not think it is, it would be accounted 
 for by this fact. 
 
 All of this Oberlin regiment have not 
 
12 
 
 returned to a peaceful life in a redeemed 
 cnuniry. We have a sad list of fallen 
 heroes. 
 
 Nut les? than ten per cent of all who 
 have bet-ti coDne'-ted with the army are 
 in tl is cata'ojjne. From seveiity-five 
 to one hnndred must be counted with 
 the slain. Voluii.fs might be written 
 of theiichievementt^cfihis army of mar- 
 tyrs. Oberliii has no occasion to bUish 
 a: the record her sons have made on 
 this hloody page of war. 
 It is befitting th.it we join in doing honor 
 tothft brave in our greetings tu-Jny. It 
 is befitiirig that we make their valor 
 and devotion the ground of onr reioic- 
 ings and the theme of our remarks." It 
 is onr good fortune to meet again many 
 of these heroes in this re-irathering. 
 Soldiers who h>ive survived the orde- 
 al oi battle, and I may almost say of a 
 hundred battles, we bid you welcome 
 h'.rae again ! In beha.f of our Alma 
 Mater whom you have honored, and all 
 her children w hom you have saved, we 
 extend to you sincere and hearty thanks. 
 We owe everything to you ; our homes", 
 ourscnools, our churches, our country 
 —to you who stood between us and the 
 burning tide of war. We owe it to you, 
 that these f(ur terrible years have been 
 Vfars of peace and quiet and prosperi- 
 ty in all our homes. We owe it to 
 you, that we may gather here to-day 
 and recount the mercies of the past.— 
 We owe to you the songs of liberty 
 ai.d cf a redeemed land, which we are 
 permitted to sing, and all the bright 
 hopes which swell our hearts of a glori- 
 ous future for this country of ourlove. 
 It is a debt wo can never pay. We can 
 only bring you the meed of our ad- 
 miration and unfeigned gratitude. If 
 ever we forget the services of those 
 who have lought and suffered for us 
 and ours, or cease to speak their praise, 
 palsied be our tongue and perish our 
 name, from the annals of men. 
 
 But not to you only who have como 
 back from this horrid carnage is this 
 debt due. More sacred and more 
 profound is onr obligation to the mem- 
 ory of the 100 who will never come 
 back They offered their all for us 
 and the offering was accepted. They 
 died for U3, and by their death we live 
 
 Let us hot fail to enshrine their" 
 memory m our deepest hearts and teach 
 It to our children. Lot us not fail to 
 honor their patriotism and valor by 
 every sign and appropriate tribute 
 which comes within our reach. Let us 
 see to it that the movement which 
 originated here and has been imitated 
 by nearly every college in the land, of 
 erecting to these honored dead a suita- 
 ble monument, is carried to complete 
 SUCC.SS. Itwill beourshameif uedoless. 
 Nor would wo who are younger than 
 the early days of the conflict, forget 
 what we owe to the fearless pioneers 
 who struck the first blows for liberty 
 and a free country. Some of you have 
 fought the good tight till your heads are 
 silvered and your strength is failing. 
 He owe to your fidelity and yoiTr 
 courage hardly less than to ihe battle 
 heroes who have followed vou. The 
 sowers of the seed surely deserve no 
 less praise than the in-gatherers of the 
 harvest We thank you for the lessons 
 of your faithfulness and devotion to 
 the truth. In behalf of the four mill- 
 ions who rejoice at last in the fullness 
 of liberty, and in behalf of a nation at 
 last washed of its guilty stain, we thank 
 you. Sometime the world will learn 
 to honor as they deserve those whom 
 It once cast ou', and disdained. 
 
 But our work is not done. The les- 
 sons of self-sacrifice and patient toil 
 for God's poor, taught by these Fathers, 
 are the very lessons which now we 
 need to learn and put in practice. The 
 grandest and fairest field that ever 
 opened to the lover of his race opens to 
 us, and calls for our labors. The great- 
 est and noblest work ever laid 'iipon 
 Christian hearts is laid upon us. Never 
 was there a more urgent appeal for all 
 that IS good and useful in the work of 
 tins school than comes to us to-day. 
 Every consideration of love and duty 
 demands that Obsrlin shall be enabled 
 to continue her work with increased 
 facilities and increased success. And 
 80, taking courage from the stranc^e 
 past, rejoicing in the grand triumphs 
 of the present, a .d trusting in God for 
 the issues of the future, let us gird our- 
 selves for the new conflicts, and move 
 on to still more glorious victories. 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
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