1861 June 14 Rand[olph] M[acon] College Virginia

Dear Sir,
The state of the Country renders
it, to a great extent, inexpedient, if not wholly imprac-
ticable, to secure the usual Commencement exercises on the
26th& 27th of this month; but the same cause makes
it, to a very great degree, indispensable that there should
be a full meeting of the Board of Trustees at that
time. I hope therefore that you will make it con-
venient to attend promptly on Tuesday the 25th at 9
o'clock A.M.

Respectfully,
Wm. A. Smith Pres

Dr. William Andrew Smith, 1802-1870,a Methodist minister, was elected president of Randolph Macon College in 1846. He was one of the state's foremost defenders of the institution of slavery and in 1856 gave a series of popular lectures on "The Philosophy and Practice of Slavery as exhibited in the Institution of Domestic Slavery in the United Staes, with the Duties of Masters to Slaves." In these lectures he sought to prove that slavery was grounded in scripture and destined to exist forever.

Randolph Macon College was temporarily suspended from February 1863 to 1866, and Smith himself served in the Confederate Army.

MSS 13101-b