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As the son of a professor who graduated from and taught at Davidson College, in Davidson, North Carolina, and whose mother lives in Davidson, this writer may hopefully be excused for looking for connections to Davidson at Log College Press. There are many to be found.

Davidson College, named for Brigadier General William Lee Davidson (1746-1781), who served and died in the American War of Independence, was founded in 1837 under the auspices of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

It’s college seal was designed by Peter Stuart Ney, who is believed by some to have been Napoleon's Marshall Peter Ney. That is a story shrouded in mystery to this day.

Presidents and Faculty

Robert Hall Morrison (1798-1889) - Morrison served as the first President of Davidson College. He was also a father-in-law of Stonewall Jackson.
Drury Lacy, Jr. (1802-1804) - Lacy was the third President of Davidson College.
John Lycan Kirkpatrick (1813-1885) - Kirkpatrick was the fourth President of Davidson College.
George Wilson McPhail (1815-1871) - McPhail was the fifth President of Davidson College. He is buried at the Davidson College Cemetery.
John Rennie Blake (1825-1900) - Prof. Blake served as faculty chairman of Davidson College who oversaw the college in the absence of a President from 1871 to 1877.
Andrew Dousa Hepburn (1830-1921) - Hepburn served as President of Miami University (Ohio) before becoming President of Davidson College.
William Joseph Martin, Sr. (1830-1896) - Col. Martin served as acting President of Davidson College from 1887 to 1888.
John Bunyan Shearer (1832-1919) - Shearer served as the eighth President of Davidson College.
Henry Louis Smith (1859-1951) - Smith served as the ninth President of Davidson College, although he was not an ordained minister, and later served as President of Washington & Lee University in Lexington, Virginia. A scientist, he is credited with pioneering the development of X-rays while at Davidson, as well as important efforts which hastened the end of World War I.
William Joseph Martin, Jr. (1868-1943) - The younger Martin served as the tenth President of Davidson College for 17 years.
Walter Lee Lingle (1868-1956) - A graduate of Davidson College, Lingle served as the college’s eleventh President.
John Rood Cunningham (1891-1980) - Cunningham served as the twelfth President of Davidson College.
Patrick Jones Sparrow (1802-1867) - Sparrow was a Presbyterian minister who served as Davidson’s first professor of ancient languages.
Daniel Harvey Hill (1821-1889) - Hill, a Confederate officer, served as Chair of the Mathematics Department at Davidson College. He is buried at the Davidson College Cemetery.
Cornelia Rebekah Shaw (1869-1937) - Shaw served as the first full-time librarian at Davidson College. This writer once worked at the E.H. Little Library at Davidson College under Mary D. Beaty, who was a respected historian, and author of Davidson: A History of the Town from 1835 until 1937 (1979); A History of the Davidson College Presbyterian Church (1987); A History of Davidson College (1988); and helped to translate Calvin’s Ecclesiastical Advice (1991).

Alumni and Other Connections

Calvin Knox Cumming (1854-1935) - Cumming was a Presbyterian missionary to Japan, who died in Davidson, North Carolina. His son, W.P. Cumming (1900-1989), was a famed professor of English, and expert on cartography, at Davidson College, who this writer interviewed in 1980.
Robert Lewis Dabney (1820-1898) - Dabney delivered the Davidson College Divinity Lectures for 1897, published as Christ Our Penal Substitute (1898).
George Howe (1802-1883) - Howe delivered an oration on The Value and Influence of Literary Pursuits at Davidson College in 1846.
Stonewall Jackson (1824-1863) - Stonewall Jackson, the famed Confederate general, served as a deacon in the Presbyterian Church in Lexington, Virginia. He was the son-in-law of Robert Hall Morrison, first President of Davidson College (see above).
Benjamin Rice Lacy, Jr. (1886-1981) - Lacy is the grandson of Drury Lacy, Jr., who served as President of Davidson College (see above). He studied at Davidson and was a star quarterback for the football team. He went on to become President of Union Seminary in Richmond, Virginia.
Alexander Jeffrey McKelway (1866-1918) - McKelway received an honorary D.D. degree from Davidson College in 1900. Three generations later, this writer studied piano in the McKelway household.
Julius W. Melton (1933-2017) - Melton, a family friend of the writer, worked at Davidson College, and wrote the valuable study on Presbyterian Worship in America: Changing Patterns Since 1787 (1967, 2001), which we have highlighted previously here.
Wilson Plumer Mills (1883-1959) - Mills graduated from Davidson College with a B.A. in 1903, and after long missionary service in the Far East, received an honorary D.D. degree from Davidson in 1951.
Walter William Moore (1857-1926) - Moore graduated from Davidson College with an A.B. in 1878. He went on to become the first President of Union Seminary in Richmond, Virginia.
LeRoy Tate Newland (1885-1969) - Newland graduated from Davidson College with a B.A. in 1908.
J.W. Rosebro (1847-1912) - Rosebro studied at both Davidson College and Princeton. He also served as President of Fredericksburg College (Virginia); director of Union Seminary, Richmond; and as a professor at Southwestern Presbyterian University in Clarksville, Tennessee. He was the son-in-law of B.M. Smith.
Jethro Rumple (1827-1906) - Rumple graduated from Davidson College in 1850 and “in 1887 he edited the First Semi-Centenary Celebration of Davidson College, Addresses, Historical and Commemorative, Delivered at the Annual Commencement, Wednesday, June 13, 1887, which includes a forty-six page address by Rumple on the history of the college” (Barry Waugh, Presbyterians of the Past).
Omar ibn Said (1770-1864) - Ibn Said’s Arabic translation of the Bible is currently held at the Davidson College Library Rare Book Room.
Charles Alphonso Smith (1864-1924) - Smith studied at Davidson College, earning his A.M. degree in 1887. He was a brother of Henry Louis Smith (see above) and Egbert Watson Smith (see below).
Egbert Watson Smith (1862-1944) - Smith graduated as valedictorian of Davidson’s class of 1882. He was a brother of Henry Louis Smith and Charles Alphonso Smith (see above).
Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924) - Wilson attended Davidson for the 1873-1874 school year before transferring to Princeton (he later served as President of Princeton). He was a a Presbyterian ruling elder, and later served as President of the United States.
B.B. Warfield (1851-1921) - Warfield received an LL.D. degree from Davidson College in 1892.

There are likely many more ties to Davidson College at Log College Press. Davidson’s place in American Presbyterian church history should not go unnoticed. Many individuals have traveled through Davidson, and Davidson has left its mark on many. Its library alone is a treasure, and its cemetery honors many who have ended their mortal journey there. Small though the town and college is, Davidson is a waystation to take note of for students of history. May this brief introduction inspire further study and appreciation.

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The “Great War” (World War I) was a time of death but also a time of great courage. We have previously highlighted the Covenanter soldiers who served as detailed by John Wagner Pritchard (1851-1924) in Soldiers of the Church: The Story of What the Reformed Presbyterians (Covenanters) of North America, Canada, and the British Isles, Did to Win the World War of 1914-1918. Barry Waugh has edited a fascinating volume containing the correspondence of J.G. Machen titled Letters from the Front: J. Gresham Machen's Correspondence from World War 1 (2012), available here. Today’s post concerns a North Carolina-born Presbyterian who would go on to become President of Union Seminary in Richmond, Virginia and also wrote the notable work Revivals in the Midst of the Years (1943, 1968): Benjamin Rice Lacy, Jr. (1886-1981).

Lacy served in WWI as a chaplain, but the nickname he earned, the “Fighting Parson,” reveals something of his character. After having graduated from Davidson College, North Carolina, and having studied as a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford, England, at the time of America’s entrance into the War Lacy was serving as a chaplain in the North Carolina National Guard. He was inducted into active federal military service in July 1917. After basic training was completed at Camp Sevier, South Carolina, Lacy was sent overseas from Long Island, New York to England in May 1918. He preached for the men on his ship, and led them in the singing of hymns as well.

Lacy’s World War I service card (courtesy of the State Archives of North Carolina).

He and his brother Thomas A. Lacy were eventually stationed in France. He preached on the Lord’s Day, ministered to the sick and injured, helped to provide entertainment for the soldiers, and presided at funerals. Matthew M. Peek writes:

Although he stated that he would not trade his job with a man in the regular Army on the front lines, Lacy became known as the “Fighting Parson” because of his heroism in aiding the wounded before the German lines in France. On one occasion, a deserted German battery with guns and ammunition was found, but it could not be turned against the enemy because all of the instructions were in German. Chaplain Lacy — who was read German and was able to decipher the tables and symbols — took charge, and for two hours joined in operating the guns in well-directed fire.
Benjamin Lacy Jr. received the Silver Star citation for his bravery on September 26, 1918, for the following actions:
“By direction of the President, under the provisions of the act of Congress approved July 9, 1918 (Bul. No. 43, W.D., 1918), First Lieutenant (Chaplain) Benjamin R. Lacy, Jr., United States Army, is cited by the Commanding General, American Expeditionary Forces, for gallantry in action and a silver star may be placed upon the ribbon of the Victory Medals awarded him. Chaplain Lacy distinguished himself by gallantry in action while serving with the 113th Field Artillery, American Expeditionary Forces, in action in Bois de Avocourt, France, 26 September 1918, in rendering aid to the wounded under heavy enemy fire.”
He would be twice cited for meritorious service during WWI. Lacy Jr. was involved in the following military campaigns: Saint-Mihiel offensive; Meuse-Argonne offensive; and the Lorraine offensive. He left France and arrived back in the United States on March 21, 1919, at Camp Stuart, Virginia. Lacy Jr. was honorably discharged from active military service on April 15, 1919, at Camp Jackson, S.C.

At Log College Press, we have recently added a batch of his correspondence to family and loved ones which covers the time period of June - November 1918. He shares with the folks back home a full and lively account of his experiences. In a letter dated October 7, 1918, he recounts the engagement alluded to above, although the reader would not surmise that the writer would be awarded a Silver Star for his brave actions under fire. He does make this poignant remark near the end:

Too long a letter you will say. How I do wish I could write more often. Letters to bereave parents will be the order of the day tomorrow. Don’t measure my love by the number of letters I write. I took my breeches off for the first time in two weeks last night. I’ve tried to do my work, and it takes most of my time. I’ll try to write as often as I can.

Lacy ended up living a long and productive life, serving as pastor of the Central Presbyterian Church in Atlanta, George, and as Moderator of the Synod of North Carolina and of the Presbyterian Church in the United States (PCUS). He died peacefully over 60 years after his return from the battlefields of France, and his legacy is fondly remembered today. His letters provide a snapshot of a chapter in his life which was not peaceful, but which helps us to know the man and his experiences in the midst of a great war more deeply.

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