Elms and Magnolias:The 19th Century
The Catalogue of Members of the Calliopean Society, a Yale literary society, formed in 1819. The society was formed when a "Southern" party within the Linonia Society broke away because of the election of a Northern president within the society. Until its dissolution in 1853, the Calliopean Society was composed of students from the Southern States.
 John C. Calhoun (1782-1850)
b. Abbeville District, South Carolina, Class of 1804
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Calhoun served as Congressman, Secretary of War, Vice-President, Secretary of State, and Senator during his long tenure in U.S. politics. He is credited for having "influenced the political history of the United States more than any other graduate in the first two centuries of Yale's history." His state rights philosophy was central to the formation of the Southern Confederacy.
John C. Calhoun to Jedediah Morse, February 7, 1820
As Secretary of War, Calhoun authorized Reverend Morse to enter the territories occupied by Native Americans and serve as a missionary and observer. Morse would later be given $10,000 to fund his work among the tribes.
Augustus Baldwin Longstreet (1790-1870)
b. in Augusta, Georgia, Class of 1813 |
Longstreet, lawyer, politician, author, and university administrator, is best known for his romantic depiction of the antebellum South in his Georgia Scenes (1840), and his presidency of Emory College, Centenary College (LA), South Carolina College, and the newly formed University of Mississippi. Much like Calhoun, he was a strict constructionist of the Constitution and a state rights advocate.
Augustus Baldwin Longstreet to Bishop Spalding, October 27, 1855
Written from the president's office at the University of Mississippi, Longstreet attacks the anti-Catholic plank of the American Party, better known as the Know-Nothings.
Frederick Augustus Porter Barnard (1809-1889) b. in Sheffield, Massachusetts, Class of 1828
Barnard served as Professor of Mathematics at the University of Alabama and at the University of Mississippi before being elected President of the University of Mississippi in 1856. While at the University of Mississippi, Barnard began construction on the largest observatory in the United States. The project was halted by theCivil War, but was later completed and now serves as the home to the Center for the Study of Southern Culture. With the outbreak of the Civil War he returned to New York becoming President of Columbia College in 1864. In addition to his contributions to Columbia, he was instrumental in the founding of the National Academy of Science.
Cassius Marcellus Clay (1810-1903)
b. in Madison County, Kentucky, Class of 1832 |
Clay was one of the great abolitionist leaders in the South. Even though he was the son of slave holders, Clay became an ardent abolitionist after hearing William Lloyd Garrison in New Haven. He opposed the Mexican War and supported the candidacy of Frémont and Lincoln. During the Civil War he intermittently served as a Major-General of the Union Army and Minister to Russia.
Cassius M. Clay to B. Perry, January 5, 1880
Clay discusses his role in the Civil War.
Comparative enrollment of Southerners at Yale, Harvard, and Princeton
1830: 69 Yale; 16 Harvard; 17 Princeton
1850: 72 Yale; 65 Harvard; 115 Princeton
1860: 33 Yale; 63 Harvard; 113 Princeton
The numbers in 1830 reflect the effect of Calhoun's status as a Yale graduate. Many Southern men came to Yale to emulate Calhoun. The decline between 1850 and 1860 is part of the general rise in sectionalism and is perhaps tied to the demise of the Calliopean Society in 1853.
Secession Crisis at Yale
As depicted in these clippings from Frank Leslie's Illustrated Weekly Review, Southern students raised a secession flag on the Old Campus on Sunday, January 20, 1861. Northern students stormed Alumni Hall and removed the flag.
The Nineteenth Century Continued
Narrative Overview
The Eighteenth Century
The Twentieth Century
Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library
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Copyright 1996.
Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library
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Designed by: Garry Lacy Reeder II
Revised: August 12, 1996
URL:http://www.library.yale.edu/mssa/elms/elms.htm