Hedrick, Benjamin Sherwood, 1827-1886
Page 1
Chapel
Hill.
Oct. 27, 1856
H. R.
Helper, Esq
Dear Sir }
I received about a week ago yours of the 15th,
2 the
first intimations that my letter to the
Standard
3 had
been read and approved by a
Northcarolinian. Others had told me that my views were
good and sound but that I would do no good to make them public
at this
time. That I would get myself into trouble &c.
&c. The fact is that I was already in trouble for that matter. I had said
some time in August that if there was a
Fremont
4
ticket in the
state
I should vote for it. This got voiced abroad some how or other and soon came to
the ears of the editor of the
Standard,
5 and
soon the mandate went forth from that representative of sham Democracy "if
there are
Black Republicans
amongst us let them be driven out," "Let our schools and seminaries
be scrutinized &" It was understood that these fulminations were
directed at me. This editorial was followed after an interval of two [or] three
weeks by the communication signed "An Alumnus" written by a sort of
second fiddler to the
Standard.
6 It
was rumored that a
Board of
Trustees were to be called to turn me out. One of them,
Judge Saunders
being particularly active. The chances were
very strong against me, as some false rumors were afloat which would be much
Page 2
than being simply a "
black
republican." Thinking the matter would come to an issue sooner or
later, I set to work and wrote my defense against the charge of being an unsafe
person in the
communication
community I came out boldly in defense of
Fremont
. This was rather more than the
Standard expected, but he saw at once that it
would be perfectly useless to argue the matter + as he would come out second
best. All the
Standards which were to go
North were
suppressed hoping thereby to keep my article from appearing at
the North. But
some how or other it got through,
All the means of the worst politicians were at once brought to bear
against me. Efforts were made to excite the students to mob me, and they were
even taunted with cowardice because they would not do it. A few rowdies however
got together one night and burnt me in effigy, but not one of classes could be
induced to rebel, and not a single student refused to recite.
7
But with the political press the
Standard found the proper material to work
upon and in that way by not copying my defense, but speaking of it and giving
it the character which each one chose, quite a storm was raised against me. It
was declared that the
University would certainly be ruined if I were not
forthwith dismissed. The
executive Committee8
of the Board of
Page 3
Trustees being nearly all
politicians, to whom vox populi is more than vox dei,
9
they were very willing to sacrifice me to the popular clamor. And as my letter
was very little circulated, it true character was very little known, and has
not now been read by one in ten of those who cry out most against me. But
wherever it it has been read in the
state
I have found friends and although they now few, still the number is increasing.
And I believe now if my letter could be read by every citizen of the
state, it would produce a favorable impression. But not a single paper
in the
state
has republished my letter. A few would do so but they are affraid that injury
might result to themselves. But my position in the
University is gone, and must soon look out for an
other,—
Last week I went to
Salisbury
to attend a state teachers convention. Quite a formidable attempt was made to
mob me, but I was sustained by my friends so that they could not get hold of
me.
10 I
have just received a letter stating that the ringleaders are in the hands of
the law. That I think is pretty good for a hot bed of nullifaction like
Salisbury.
Elect
Fremont
and mobism, terrorism, disunionists, will all
receive their quietus. All the elements of disunion are now centered on
Buchanan his defeat will be their ruin. There never was so
good an opportunity as the present
Page 4
to arrest the
process of disintegration which has of late seized
the South. The
election of
Fremont
will empell the disunionists to show their hands,
and be counted. There weakness in nearly every state will then be apparent to
all. But let
Filmore and or
Buchanan be elected, and this faction being victorious
will continue to increase until it will control the entire government, or
dissolve the
Union. The
Know
Nothing leaders in
the South are
for the
Union come what
will. The masses of the people, except in a few fronts, are all for the
Union. When
Fremont
is elected, as he ought to be, a pretty loud howl
will go up from the
Buchaneers, but the response which it will receive from
the people will soon quit. But until this disunion faction does meet with a
regional defeat, it will go on increasing until there is very great reason to
fear that it will destroy the
Union. The true
friends of the
Republic have
but a few days to work. Let no efforts be spared and I believe the right may
yet conquor. As a native
North
Carolinian I hope you will be able to give the timorous of
the North a
correct understanding of the case as regards
the South.
Endnotes:
1.
Benjamin S. Hedrick Papers, SHC.
Benjamin Sherwood Hedrick (1827-86)
, professor of
agricultural chemistry from 1854 to 1856, was asked by students at the polls in
August 1856 if he would vote for the
Republican presidential candidate,
John C.
Fremont
. Hedrick replied that he would if a
Republican ticket were formed in
North
Carolina.
Hedrick's
views opposing the extension of slavery became
the subject of articles and letters appearing in
North Carolina Standard
, the
state's leading
Democratic
newspaper, published in
Raleigh.
On October 18, 1856, the
executive committee of the board of trustees, acting outside
its authority, dismissed
Hedrick
by declaring his chair vacant. The
committee agreed to pay him his full salary to the close
of the session (
Hamilton,
Hedrick
32).
2.
Helper
had sent
Hedrick
the following letter:
New
York,
Oct. 15. 1856,
Prof. Hedrick
,
Bravo! You are right. Stand firm, and friends will
gather around you. I have not the pleasure of your acquaintance, but it would
do me good to take you by the hand and tell you how glad I was to find that my
dear old native state has at least one fearless patriot within her borders.
There are tens of thousands of men in the
state, who enterain views similar to those expressed in your letter, but
they dare not open their mouths. A remarkably free country!
Fremont
will probably get 50,000 majority in this
state. "The work goes bravely on". If the election could be
postponed six or eight months I have no doubt several of the
Southern
States would bring out an electoral ticket in favor of
something free—say, free speech, free soil,
free labor, free presses, free schools, or
Fremont
.
3.
Hedrick
defended his choice of
Fremont
for President in the
North Carolina Standard
on October 4,
1856. He supported
Fremont
, he wrote, "Because I like the man" and
because "
Fremont
is on the right side of the great question which
now disturbs the public peace" (2), the extension of slavery.
5. The
North Carolina Standard
had published
on September 13, 1856, an editorial,
"Fremont in the South," which asserted "Let our schools and seminaries
of learning be scrutinized; and if
black
Republicans be found in them, let them be driven out. That man is
neither a fit nor a safe instructor of our young men, who even inclines to
Fremont
and
black
Republicanism" (3). The
Standard's
editor was
William W. Holden
.
6. On September 27, 1856, the
North Carolina Standard
published
over the signature "An Alumnus" a letter "written by
John A.
Englehard, a law student at the
University who had been an honor graduate in 1854"
(
Hamilton,
Hedrick
9).
Englehard reported, "we have been reliably informed
that a professor at
our State University is an open and avowed supporter of
Fremont
, and declares his willingness—nay, his
desire—to support the
black
Republican ticket" (
North Carolina Standard, September
27, 1856, p. 2).
7.
Gov.
Swain
, writing to secretary of the
board of
trustees
Charles
Manly
on October 6, 1856, informed him that "there was a noisy
demonstration on Saturday night. It did not amount to much, however. I
addressed the whole body of students on the subject Sunday morning and have
reason to suppose that things will go on quietly. I perceive no symptoms of
excitement at present" (
Hamilton,
Hedrick
18).
9. "vox populi is more than vox
dei": The
voice of the people is more than the voice of
God.
10. On October 21, 1856,
Hedrick
was burned in effigy in
Salisbury, his home town, while attending the state
educational convention. A mob of "some two or three hundred in
number" went to
Hedrick's
lodgings and ordered him to leave town or be
subjected to the "juice of the pine and the hair of the goose" (
Hamilton,
Hedrick
37).
Hedrick
escaped by freight train to
Lexington,
NC, and wrote to
his wife the following day: "They made a good deal of
disturbance on my account in
Salisbury last night, tho' they did no damage except to
frighten pretty bad the women folks at
Mr
Rankins," (
Benjamin S. Hedrick Papers, SHC).