Charles C. Leverett 11 August 1873 Letter

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From: DC0339s (Finding Aid)

Transcript

Davidson College [1]

Mecklenburg County, N.C.

August 11, 1873 [2]
Dear Parents [3]

It has been nearly three months since we received our last letter from you: though I hope will get one by this evening’s train [4]

Nothing of interest to write this time:We are both well as usual: I told you in some of my letters before that I had not been very well since we came here: I dont [sic] know what is the mater [sic] though I think my liver is pretty badly out of order. There is still a great deal of sickness

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through the country: there was two deaths within a very few miles of this place yesterday: there is so much sickness through the country that I was afraid to undertake to do any work: it is reported that the miningitis [sic] is in this country. [5]

There is one case about two miles from here. Did the Cholera get into Texas? [6] What sort of a crop have they got on the farm this year? How do you like those people you got this year? [7]

Did you get that list of graduates, distinctions, etc that I sent you? I will send will send my “cirtificate [sic] of distinction” soon. [8] I hardly know how

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to send it without injuring it: I guess I can wrap it around a smooth stick so that it will not get hurt. I dont [sic] expect you can make out the Professor’s name which is on it: it is Edward S. Joynes [9], he writes a miserable poor hand If I did not know which one of the professors gave it to me I could not read his name. I will make it plainer. “Edward S. Joynes” prof. of Modern Languages. When I go back to the University [10] I will send you the pictures of the [sic] if I have money to spare I will get each one to

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sign his name to his picture. You will know as soon as you see prof. McCulloch picture that he’s a full blood Scotchman. He is the most ordinary looking man in the faculty and the ablest one too. [11]

Your most obedient

son Charlie. [12]

Original
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Annotations
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[1] Davidson College was located north of Charlotte and south of Statesville in North Carolina. The town was also called Davidson College at the time, though it was later shortened to simply Davidson (Davidson College Catalog 1872-1873,13). In the 1873-1874 academic year, the college had 117 students and 7 faculty members (Davidson College History and Statistics). John R. Blake served as the chair of faculty (DCC, 6). Terms of admission included good moral character, a certificate of honorable dismission, and examinations in English, Latin, Greek, and Mathematics (DCC, 14).Students at Davidson College were required to take both classical courses for four years and scientific courses for three years, but eclectic courses were also offered, at the discretion of the Faculty, for those who wanted to get instruction in specific areas (DCC, 15-18). The tuition was between $50 to $70 for that year. Overall expenses (excluding clothing, traveling-expenses and pocket money) were estimated to be between $200 and $250 a year. (DCC, 20)(Davidson College Catalog 1874-1875,19).

[2] This date would have been in the middle of the summer before Charlie’s brother’s, Walter Leverett’s, first term at Davidson College. The spring semester of 1872-73 academic year ended on June 28th (DCC 1872-1873,3) and the 1874-75 academic year started on Sept. 25th (DCC, 1874-1875,3). Both brothers were living at a boarding house in the town of Davidson between school sessions. Walter planned on attending Davidson College, and Charles planned on attending Washington and Lee University that fall. At Washington and Lee University, the spring semester of 1872-73 academic year ended on June 26th and the 1873-74 academic year started on Sept. 18th (Catalogue of Washington and Lee University, 60).

[3] Charlie was writing home to his parents Captain Marshall Duncan Leverett and Elizabeth Anne Patterson Leverett in their hometown of Leverett’s Chapel, Rusk County Texas. Leverett’s Chapel was named for the family, particularly Eliza, who settled there in the 1850s. The Leveretts traveled by ox wagon from Savannah, Georgia, and lived in a log house. They brought with them slaves, cattle, and equipment to construct what became an effective plantation. Captain Leverett was born circa 1815, and died before the year 1900. He and Eliza married the 29th of September, 1851, in Rusk County, Texas. Eliza was born in May of 1826 and the date of her death is unknown (Captain Marshall Duncan Leverett).

[4] The Atlantic, Tennessee & Ohio Railroad reached from Charlotte to Davidson in 1861 and to Statesville in March of 1863. The train to Charlotte was an hour-long ride when it was first constructed. However, some of its rails were destroyed during the 1860s in the Civil War, but they had been relaid by 1871 (Beaty). Construction of the rail line resulted in 6 passenger trains a day, all carrying mail, with connections in Charlotte, Mooresville, Statesville, and Barber Junction by 1922. Charlie lived in between these points, and the railroads were likely still under construction, and thus mail would have been delayed or used detoured routes (North Carolina Railroads) (Atlantic, Tenessee & Ohio Railroads).

[5] Charlie is referring to an illness known as epidemic cerebrospinal meningitis, which caused many deaths up and down the East Coast beginning in the early 1800s and included a fairly large outbreak, mostly in the North, in 1873 (Epidemiological Society of London, 53-83). The other great illnesses in the area at the time were cholera and particularly yellow fever, which had a large outbreak in 1873 and heavily impacted most Southern states (Barua, 12-13) (Humphreys, 27).

[6] Cholera had a large presence in Texas, often transmitted from other areas in the state’s port cities. A terrible outbreak in 1866 was still in recent memory, and it was labeled a pandemic in America between 1863-1879 (Barua, 12-13).

[7] The family farm was originally a 759 acre plot in Rusk County. The family settled there in the early 1850s and during this time predominantly produced cotton. In the 1880 census, the family had 7 workers on the farm, some hired and some who may have been relations, and these or other employees could be the people to whom Charlie is referring (Captain Marshall Duncan Leverett).

[8] The Commencement Day at Washington and Lee University in the academic year of 1872-73 was on June. 26th, 1873. The certificate of distinction mentioned here is similar to an Honor Roll or Dean’s list (McCormick-Goodhart, “Charles Leverett Info”). Charlie probably received his certificate of distinction on the day of commencement (Catologue of Washington and Lee University, 60).

[9] Edward Southey Joynes was born in 1834 in Accomac County, Virginia. He was the youngest of 13 children born to Thomas R. Joynes and Anna Bell Joynes. He married Miss Eliza Waller Vest. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Virginia in 1852 and then studied at the University of Berlin for three years. Afterwards, Joynes taught German and Greek at College of William and Mary. In 1866 he was elected the chair of Modern Languages at Washington College (which later became Washington and Lee University); he was the last member of the faculty of Washington College to serve during the administration of General Robert E. Lee, who served as president of the College until 1870. Joynes left in 1875 and became a member of the first faculty at Vanderbilt University. He then taught in University of East Tennessee (later the University of Tennessee) and the University of South Carolina. Edward Joynes died in 1917 in South Carolina (Edward Southey Joynes).

Edward S. Joynes Photograph from the Vanderbilt University Faculty in 1875 (Edward S. Joynes).

[10] University most likely refers to Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia, where Charlie attended from 1872 to 1874. Charlie studied Greek, Latin, mathematics, and French there (Catalogue of Washington and Lee University,12). Washington and Lee University was first established in 1749 by Robert Alexander as a Mathematical and Classical School, called Augusta Academy. (Catalogue of the Officers and Alumni of Washington and Lee University, 7) The school was moved to Lexington in 1782, and the name was changed to Washington College in 1813. General Robert E. Lee became the president of the college in 1865, and the trustees voted to change the name to Washington and Lee University after his death in 1870 (A Brief History).

[11] Richard Sears McCulloch was born in Baltimore in 1818 and was raised on a farm in Baltimore County. Richard attended the College of New Jersey (which became Princeton University) and graduated in 1836 at the age of 18. In 1846 he married Mary Stewart Vowell of Alexandria, Virginia, a cousin of Robert E. Lee. He taught natural philosophy (which would become physics and chemistry) at colleges in Pennsylvania, Princeton, and Columbia University. McCulloch later worked as a consulting chemist for the Confederacy’s Nitre and Mining Bureau, which worked with mining explosives. There is also some evidence that he was a member of the Confederate clandestine services who reported directly to Jefferson Davis and Judah Benjamin. He there planned arson and met with John Wilkes Booth. McCulloch worked principally with chemical weapons, and was believed to have perfected two: a self-igniting “Greek Fire,” and a lethal anti-personnel gas. However, the Confederacy never employed them. The Union captured and held McCulloch in Libby Prison after the war, but he was released in March of 1866. Soon afterward he was invited to teach at Washington and Lee University by its president, his cousin Robert E. Lee. He became a professor of natural philosophy there, and was a faculty member until 1877. He was known as an odd man, particularly for his fondness of sketching cats, his former laboratory subjects (Cox).

 

Photograph of Richard Sears McCulloch from Washington and Lee Faculty Records (McCormick-Goodhart, “RE: Charles Leverett”).

[12] Charles Clinton Leverett was born on Mar. 14th, 1853 in Leverett’s Chapel, Rusk County Texas. His parents were Marshall Duncan Leverett and Elizabeth Anne Patterson Leverett. Charles was the oldest son. His younger brother Walter Burns Leverett attended Davidson College. Charles attended Washington and Lee University from 1872 to 1874. He was in the Class of 1876, but he did not earn a degree (McCormick-Goodhart). He studied Latin, Greek, French and Mathematics at Washington and Lee University (Catalogue of Washington and Lee University,12). Charles died on Apr. 22nd, 1897 in Rusk County Texas (Captain Marshall Duncan Leverett).

Works cited
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A Brief History – Washington and Lee University. N.p. n.d. Web. <http://www.wlu.edu/about-wandl/history-and-traditions/a-brief-history>

Atlantic, Tennessee & Ohio Railroad- Atlantic, Tennessee & Ohio Railroad. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2014. <http://www.csa-railroads.com/Atlantic%2C_Tennessee_and_Ohio.htm>.

Beaty, Mary. Davidson: A History of the Town from 1835 until 1937. Davidson, NC: Briarpatch Press.1988

Barua, Dhiman. Cholera. Plenum Publishing Company, 1992. Digital file.

Captain Marshall Duncan Leverett and Eliza Ann Patterson – Gone to Texas. N.p., 26 Mar. 2011. Web. Accessed 27 Apr. 2014. <http://gonetotexasgtt.com/f2102.htm>.

Catalogue of the Officers and Alumni of Washington and Lee University. 1749-1888. Baltimore: John Murphy & Co. [1888] Digital file.

Catalogue of Washington and Lee University, 1872-1873.Virginia.[1873] Digital file.

Cox, Richard P. Civil War Maryland: Stories from the Old Line State. Charleston: The History Press, 2008. Digital file.

Davidson College Catalog, 1872-1873. Davidson: Davidson College Office of Communications.[1873]. Accessed 6 May 2014.<https://archive.org/details/davidsoncollegec18721873>

Davidson College Catalog, 1874-1875. Davidson. Davidson College Office of Communications. [1875]. Accessed 6 May 2014. <http://archive.org/details/davidsoncollegec18741875>

Davidson College History and Statistics, 1873-1874. Davidson College Archives, Davidson, NC. Accessed 6 May 2014. <https://davidsonarchivesandspecialcollections.org/archives/databases/colhist>

Edward S. Joynes.Photograph.Vanderbilt University Faculty in 1875. Accessed 6 May 2014.
<http://www.library.vanderbilt.edu/speccol/exhibits/faculty/vufaculty1875.shtml>

Edward Southey Joynes M.A.,L.L.D. – Find A Grave. N.p. n.d. Web. Accessed 4 May 2014.
<http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=pv&GRid=97709385&PIpi=91701422>

Epidemiological Society of London. Transactions. Vol. 18. London: Shaw and Sons, 1899. Digital file.

Humphreys, Margaret. Yellow Fever and the South. John Hopkins University Press, 1992. Digital file.

McCormick-Goodhart, Seth. “Charles Leverett Info.” Message to David Nnadi. 30 Apr. 2014. E-mail.

McCormick-Goodhart, Seth. “RE: Charles Leverett.” Message to David Nnadi. 25 Apr. 2014. E-mail.

Transcription and annotation authors: Shuk Hang (Grace) Li, David Nnadi, and Elizabeth Wright.
Date: May 2014.
Cite as: Li, Shuk Hung (Grace), David Nnadi, and Elizabeth Wright, annotators. 11 August 1873 Charles C. Leverett Letter to Parents. DC0339s.
Available: https://davidsonarchivesandspecialcollections.org/archives/digital-collections/charles-c-leverett-letter-11-aug-1873.