Dartmouth College had only been in existence for six years before it became involved in the American colonies' struggle for independence. Almost a century later, it saw its sons divide along northern and southern lines to fight against each other in the nation's brutal Civil War. From supporting General Washington directly as he fought the British to training on the College Green before departing to fight in the Civil War, Dartmouth students and alumni took direct action to support military efforts.
1. Timothy Bedel to John Wheelock, May 26, 1778. MSS 778326.
Timothy Bedel was a prominent leader in the New Hampshire militia during the Revolutionary War. During this phase of the war, he and his men were quartered in Haverhill, New Hampshire, about 30 miles up the Connecticut River from Hanover. This letter, written in 1778, orders "Lieutenant Col. John Wheelock" to take several men to Albany and try to raise funds to support the New Hampshire militia. Lt. Col. John Wheelock was the son of Dartmouth Founder Eleazar Wheelock and would assume the college presidency when his father died nearly a year later.
2. George Washington to Reverend Joseph Johnson, February 20, 1776. MS-1033, Box 1, Folder 9.
Joseph Johnson was the son-in-law of Samson Occom and a Mohegan who had studied at Moor's Charity School under Eleazar Wheelock well before Dartmouth College was founded. He was instrumental in purchasing land from the Oneida Nation with the goal of founding a Christian Native town dedicated to an integration of Algonquin and Anglo-European culture.
While he was still gathering support and obtaining legal clearance, George Washington wrote to him in the hopes that Johnson would be able to convey a message to the Iroquois Confederacy, known then as the Six Nations. Washington was anxious to convince the Confederacy to stay neutral in the war so that the Continental Army wouldn't face a war on two fronts. However, despite Washington's hope, the Six Nations ultimately dissolved their confederacy, with some tribes siding with the colonists and the others taking up arms for the British.
3. State of New Hampshire. "An Act for Raising Eleven Thousand and Two Hundred Weight of Beef Within This State, for the Use of the Continental Army." [New Hampshire], 1780. Broadside 780377.
This broadside was distributed all across the state by the first "President" of New Hampshire, Meshach Weare. Each town in the former colony was tasked with raising a significant amount of beef in order to feed the Continental Army. Hanover was on the hook for over eight thousand pounds of beef despite having a population that was likely only about a thousand people, many of them either alumni or faculty of the college.
4. Dartmouth Phalanx flag and canteen. Iconography 22 and Realia 545, Box 28.
The Phalanx was Dartmouth's first military society and regularly trained on the College Green. This canteen belonged to John Ordronaux, a member of Dartmouth's class of 1850. Ordronaux's father was a Frenchman who commanded the American privateer Prince of Neufchatel during the War of 1812.
After leaving Dartmouth, Ordronaux went on to earn a law degree from Harvard and a medical degree from the National Medical College. During the Civil War, he wrote the first American work on military hygiene while serving as a medical intake examiner for new Union recruits.
5. Riding boots and pistol from the American Civil War. Realia 198.
These boots and this sidearm belonged to Dr. Andrew J. Huntoon, a member of Dartmouth Medical School’s class of 1854. In 1862, Huntoon enlisted in the Union Army as a second lieutenant and was assigned to E Company of the 12th New Hampshire Volunteer Infantry. He rose through the ranks during the Civil War, eventually serving as Captain of the A, D, and E Companies of the NH 12th. On May 3, 1863, Huntoon was injured in battle and taken prisoner at Chancellorsville, Virginia. He was later discharged because of his wounds. Huntoon died in 1923 at the ripe old age of 91 and was buried alongside his wife in Arlington National Cemetery.
6. "Attention Volunteers!" Zouave Company Recruitment Poster. MS-1409, Box 17, Folder 1.
Henry Atherton circulated this broadside in the vicinity of Cavendish, Vermont, a town nearly forty miles southwest of Hanover. The recent graduate of Dartmouth College's class of 1859, Atherton was tasked with mustering a hundred volunteers; he raised one hundred and twenty recruits in less than two weeks. He was quickly elected the captain of this company which became rated into the 4th Vermont Infantry Regiment.
The term "Zouaves" refers to a particular elite forces fighting style that was practiced by Berber members of the French Army. Their highly effective martial methodology was integrated with United States drills in the years immediately preceding the Civil War and both sides of the conflict had Zoauve units in service.