 |
Chapter 2
The Building Campaign of 1818
Documentary History of the Construction of the Buildings at the University
of Virginia, 1817-1828 |  |
The Virginia Springs
From the Blue Ridge Jefferson journeyed to Warm Springs, where he thought he might
"remove some Rheumatic affections which have long incommoded me occasionally." Upon
his arrival at the spa, he wrote his old friend Thomas Cooper, who at this time was
scheduled to become the Central College's first professor, to inform him that the school had
been selected as the site for the university but complained that "Our 1st. pavilion has been
much retarded by the disappointments of workmen. I think it may be ready to recieve you
within 3. months from this time, and that within that time one wing of 9. dormitories may be
ready, and in the course of the season another pavilion & 2. more wings of dormitories."[129]
Obviously the pace of the work was moving much more slowly than Jefferson had
anticipated, and Board of Visitor member John Hartwell Cocke noted in his diary on his way
to the Virginia springs nearly three weeks later that he found the work at the college
"progressing slowly towards Completion—The first pavillion of the Doric order just cover'd
in—and one range of Dormitories ready for roofing—The leveling of the top of Hill will be
compleated this Fall.—The foundation of the North range of Dormitories just dug
out.—[130]
129. TJ to Cooper, 7 August 1818, DLC:TJ. When the Central College was superseded by
the University of Virginia the new Board of Visitors elected Cooper to a profesorship of
chemistry, mineralogy, natural philosophy, and law, to begin in April 1820. The
postponement of the opening of the university because of a lack of funds, combined with the
"storm of clerical protest" against Cooper's unorthodox religious views, eventually led to a
revocation of Cooper's appointment (Malone, Jefferson and His Time: The Sage of
Monticello, 366-69, 376-80).
130. John Hartwell Cocke, Diary, 26 August 1818, ViU:JHC. The waters at Warm Springs
did not have the therapeutic value that Jefferson hoped for. "I returned from the warm
springs a few days, in prostrated health, from the use of the waters," he wrote to Thomas
Cooper on 12 September, "their effect, and the journey back reduced me to the last stage of
exhaustion; but I am recovering. . . . the steady progress of my convalescence assures my
being well . . . I cannot yet set erect to write and writing with pain I must do it with brevity"
(DLC:TJ). TJ's serious indisposition following the trip lasted several months; on 8
November he informed Julien Honoré that "my health is getting better slowly, but I do not
venture out of the house yet" (DLC:TJ). On 6 October TJ described his illness at length in a
letter to Colonel William Alston of Clifton, S.C., whom he met at the springs with an
entourage of "eight other Alstons, big and little" (see Reniers, The Springs of Virginia, 49).
TJ wrote Alston to inform him that he had "made up a box of a couple of dozen bottles" of
French and Italian wine and was sending it to South Carolina via Bernard Peyton of
Richmond: "I became seriously affected afterwards by the continuance of the use of the
waters. they produced imposthume, eruption, with fever, colliquative sweats and extreme
debility. these sufferings, aggravated by the torment of long & rough roads, reduced me to
the lowest stage of exhaustion by the time I got home. I have been on the recovery some
time, & still am so; but not yet able to sit erect for writing. among my first efforts is that of
recalling myself to your recollection, & of expressing the gratification I derived at the
springs from your acquaintance & society. however little of life may remain for cherishing a
cordiality which it must so soon part with. it will not be the less felt, while feeling remains,
and in the hope that the tour I recommended of the upper & lower valley of the Blue ridge
may give me, the ensuing autumn, the gratification of recieving you at Monticello, I pray
you to accept the assurance of my friendly attachment & high respect" (DLC:TJ). TJ again
described his illness on 5 July 1819 in a letter to Henry A. S. Dearborn of Boston: "I
recieved yesterday your favor of June 24. and am very Sensible of the interest you so kindly
take in my health. the eruptive complaint which came upon me in Aug. last was
unquestionably produced by the bath of the warm springs, which I tried on account of
rheumatism. the cause of the eruption was mistaken, and it was treated with severe unctions
of mercury & sulphur. these reduced me to death's door, and on ceasing to use them I
recovered immediately, and consider my health as now perfectly re-established, except some
small effect on the bowels produced by these remedies and nearly, altho' not entirely worn
off. I am still thankful for your recipe, and should the eruption return, I shall certainly try it's
effect, in preference to those before tried" (DLC:TJ). For more on TJ's illness, see his letters
of 6 October to Mathew Carey, Julien Honoré, James Breckinridge, and Joseph Dougherty,
his letters of 7 October to John Adams and William F[arley]. Gray; Robert Walsh, Jr., to TJ,
8 November, TJ to David Baillie Warden, 24 November, and TJ to George Ticknor, 24
December 1819, all in DLC:TJ, and ibid., 54-55. In a letter to John George Jackson of 27
December, TJ pronounced himself "entirely recovered" in strength and in health: "My trial
of the Warm springs was certainly ill-advised. "for I went to them in perfect health, and
ought to have reflected that remedies of their potency must have effect some way or other. if
they find disease they remove it; if none, they make it" (DLC:TJ). Unfortunately, TJ became
seriously ill twice again during the following year. On 7 November 1819 he wrote Robert J.
Evans "I am just now recovering from the third long & dangerous illness which I have had
within the last 12. months" (DLC:TJ), and on the same date he wrote John Adams that
"Three long and dangerous illnesses within the last 12. months must apologize for my long
silence towards you" (DLC:TJ).
|
Chapter 2
The Building Campaign of 1818
Documentary History of the Construction of the Buildings at the University
of Virginia, 1817-1828 | |