t of his
extraordinary ability as a speaker, to which a majestic figure and
magnificent voice no less than his logic and apt illustrations
contributed. But on this day he made the effort of his career. From that
time the University was whole-heartedly for the Union and the war.

[Illustration: THE CAPTAINS OF THE THREE STUDENT COMPANIES IN 1861
Charles Kendall Adams, '61. Captain of the University Guards Isaac H.
Elliott, '61. Captain of the Chancellor Greys Albert Nye, '62. Captain
of the Ellsworth Zouaves]

Student companies were organized at once; and the Tappan Guards under
Charles Kendall Adams, '61, the Chancellor Greys, under Isaac H. Elliot,
'62, and the Ellsworth Zouaves, under Albert Nye, '62, who died at
Murfreesboro in 1862, formed a University Battalion which enrolled
practically every student in the University. This was not the first
effort of the sort, however, for five years before Professor W.P.
Trowbridge, a graduate of West Point, had organized the first University
Battalion, with uniforms and arms furnished by the Government, and had
managed to have a small building erected as an armory, which was later
to become the first gymnasium. This experiment was short-lived and came
to an end when Professor Trowbridge resigned the following year. With
the organization of the new battalion the duty of drill master fell upon
Joseph H. Vance, the steward of the University, who was also assistant
librarian. The President set apart a room at the south end of the south
College, and there the students, in sections of fifty, drilled for an
hour each day. The old muskets had been called in by the Government some
time before, and sticks were perforce the ordinary armament. This drill
continued for the rest of the year and for most of 1862. The men who
thus received their preliminary training were to be found later in
practically every corps and division of the Union Army.

These military efforts, however, did not satisfy the more restless
spirits and many left the University immediately, few of whom ever
returned to finish their course. Of the fifty-four who graduated with
the "war class" of '61, twenty-four entered the service, in addition to
eight who did not stay to finish their work, in all thirty-two out of
sixty-two. The students in the two professional departments were no less
eager for service, as is shown by the remarkable record of the medical
class of '61, thirty of whose forty-four graduates saw active se