University of Virginia Library

CHAPTER XXV

THE ALUMNI ASSOCIATION

On the fourth of July, 1838, the following gentlemen
asembled in the Library: Robert C. Stanard,
George N. Johnson, William B. Archer, John H.
Christian, Alexander Moseley, Jacob D. Dudley,
Thomas H. Ellis of Richmond, William Frazier of
Staunton, Robert J. Davis of Lynchburg, Franklin
Minor, Thomas Wood, Alexander Duke, Pike Powers,
George W. Trueheart of Charlottesville, Willis
P. Bocock of Buckingham, Beverly Jones of Mecklenburg,
Charles B. Hayden of Smithfield, Samuel
J. Douglas of Southampton, Francis S. Sampson of
Goochland, Thomas T. Bouldin of Charlotte,
Charles D. Morris of Caroline, J. Bolling Garrett of
Albemarle, Thomas S. McClelland of Nelson. Several
members of the Board of Visitors—Joseph C.
Cabell, John H. Cocke, Chapman Johnson, and Th.
Jefferson Randolph; and all the members of the faculty—Bonnycastle,
Blaettermann, Emmet, Tucker,
Davis, Rogers, Harrison, Griffith, and Cabell—
were present by invitation. The business in hand
was the organization of a society of the alumni.

The movement for this association grew out of a
request of the Board of Visitors, made in 1837, that
the faculty invite a graduate of the University to
deliver an oration on the 4th of July, 1838. The
request was complied with, and then, on February 6,

1838, a committee was instructed to invite the
alumni to form a permanent society to meet at the
termination of each session. The committee, consisting
of those wise men, Tucker, Davis and Emmet,
urged that a society of this kind, which would
offer to the graduates of the University an inducement
to revisit the scenes of their youthful studies
and give new life to the disinterested friendships
formed in student days, would be attended with the
happiest results, and prove propitious to the interests
of the University. All of these expectations have
been met in good measure by the society organized
at the meeting in the Rotunda on the 4th of July,
1838. A constitution was adopted forthwith and
the following elected the first officers: Alexander
Moseley, president; Willis P. Bocock, George N.
Johnson, vice-presidents; Thomas H. Ellis, secretary,
and George W. Trueheart, treasurer.

After his return to Richmond, Mr. Ellis, the secretary,
had a suitable book of the best material made
in which to record his carefully prepared report of
the organization. It continued to be used until
Sheridan's raid through Virginia in 1864. Major
Green Peyton was secretary when the war came on,
and left this minute-book in his private office in the
building in Charlottesville in which he had been conducting
a weekly newspaper. Sheridan's men pillaged
the office and the book was never seen afterwards.
Fortunately, Colonel Ellis had printed his
account of the society and a copy of the pamphlet is
preserved at the University. The proceedings of
the society are now stenographically reported and
printed in full.

Chapman Johnson was the choice of the society
for orator at the commencement of 1839, but the

state of his health forced him to decline, and R. M.
T. Hunter delivered the address. James C. Bruce
of Halifax was the orator for 1840. In this year
a banquet concluded the festivities. The Collegian
makes a note of it: "The alumni closed their sitting
on the evening of the fourth with a dinner provided
at the Monticello House in Charlottesville [the ancient
Stone Tavern, where Jefferson sat in session
with the other trustees of the Albemarle Academy].
It was partaken of in the true spirit of friends met to
revive every hallowed feeling connected with their
alma mater and to record the proud deeds of life.
The greatest social glee prevailed and all were sorry
when time proclaimed the arrival of the hour for
their separation. The renewal of friendship's
sacred pledge formed the last and most interesting
scene of the meeting."

At this meeting Charles L. Mosby was chosen
orator for 1841, and Alexander Rives named as alternate,
but neither served. Mr. Bankhead of Fredericksburg
discoursed on that occasion. It is to be
regretted that the history of the society cannot be
traced by definite steps. We learn that William M.
Burwell was the orator in 1847. It is a far cry from
that year to 1858, the next year in which an address
is known to have been delivered—this one by
Charles S. Venable, the great mathematician.
James C. Southall, distinguished for his investigation
into "the recent origin of man," was the orator
in 1860. Here again war interposes its ugly presence
to the suspension of more desirable activities.
From 1867 the list of orators is complete.[1]

The society was chartered in 1873. From the
beginning the basis of the organization had been individual

membership, which precluded anything like
united action, because only a small percentage of
the members ever attended a meeting, and each
member represented himself alone. An experience of
a quarter of a century under the first charter convinced
the alumni that a different organization was
imperative and the present arrangement was gradually
evolved. It provides for local associations
under constitutions and by-laws of their own adoption,
each to become a chapter of the General Alumni
Association under conditions not hard to comply
with. The meetings of the General Association were
constituted of delegates from the chapters, and each
delegate's vote had numerical strength proportioned
to the membership of the chapter he represented.
A new charter was granted in 1903, based upon this
plan, and since that time the growth of the organization
has been very vigorous. A day has been set
apart in the commencement program and known
as Alumni Day, on which the annual meeting is held,
and the annual oration is delivered. The oration
has been an event from the beginning, and great
orators, statesmen, and scholars have gladly accepted
the invitation to deliver it.