1862 February 4 [Lexington, Va.]

Extract from Special Report of Gen F. H Smith, Supt of the V.M. Institute to the Governor of Va Feby 4, 1862

"I hope to be able at some
future day to present in a complete view,
the part that the Graduates and Cadets of
this Institution have borne int he present
struggle. The record is an honorable one and
deserving of preservation. Some have fallen on
the battlefield--others have died of disease,
all have done honor to the Institution and
to the Country.

But no loss has fallen more
heavily upon the School than that of its late
President and benefactor, Brig General Philip
St George Cocke. He died at his mansion
on the 28th December 1861.

General Cocke graduated
with distinction at the U.S. Military Academy
in 1832, and was commissioned a Second Lieuten-
ant of Artillery. He was subsequently
appointed Adjutant of his Regiment, and
after serving two years in the Army, he resigned
in 1834 and returned to his estate in Virginia.
It was my privilege to be associated with him on
terms of the closest intimacy for the period of
32 years and I can say of him, in truth, that
I never knew a purer-more hightoned or more

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useful gentleman. True in every noble impulse,
his life and his fortune were alike tendered in
the hour of his country's peril, upon the altar of
his country's service; and after a campaign of
eight months in the face of the enemy, and
winning laurels upon the plains of Manassas,
as a Brigade Commander, he returned to his
home, worn out by protracted care and toil, to
die.

The history and progress of the Virginia Military
Institute for the past 12 years are intimately
associated with the name of Gen Cocke. His
clear, discriminating judgement aided materially
in the organization and developement[sic] of that system
of scientific education which has added so much
reputation to this school; while a munificent
donation of $20,000 put into operation his cherished
plan for a separate chair of scientific agriculture
His benefactions to this Institution did not stop
here. Death has broken the seal of confidence,
and in recording this tribute to the memory of
a friend, it gives me pleasure to state, that
the means which enabled the Superintendent to
make his tour in Europe in 1858, for the purpose
of examining the systems of military and scientific
education there, were supplied by his liberal and
generous hand

It was in this delicate manner he

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aimed to promote the cause of scientific develope-
ment[sic] in this Institution of whose Board of Visitors
he was the President

I am not permitted to speak of the individual
cases in which he has stepped forward as the
friend of the orphan,or of the poor boy strug-
gling to secure an education. The means to
supply the deficiency were contributed at times
without the knowledge of the party most
interested
such was Philip St George Cocke.
True-brave-generous-modest-all these high
traits were united int his hightoned Christian
gentleman, and will be preserved in lasting mem-
-ory by those who knew and honored him here,
"For tho' his earthly sun has set
"Its light shall linger round us yet
"Bright-radiant-blest"

I remain very Respectfully
your obt Servt
Francis H Smith
Bvt Manor Genl of Engrs
Superintendent

MSS 640

[to be continued]