Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 13.djvu/225

 224 Southern Historical Society Papers.

It is certain that if the views of General Sherman had then prevailed and been followed by the immediate reconstruction, which Mr. Lin- coln had indicated at Richmond, immediately after General Lee's surrender, the South and the whole country would have been re- lieved from that fearful and barbarous system of reconstruction which followed for years after the war. The several papers published by Hon. John A. Campbell, show that under the plan approved by President Lincoln, the Virginia Legislature was to be reconvened and Virginia was to be immediately restored to the Union, the other States were then speedily to follow, and thus the military govern- ments imposed upon the South would have been avoided and the autonomy of the country would have been complete within a few months after the close of the war. After the practical dissolution of the Confederate Government, as above described, General Gorgas moved on to Alabama which he had adopted as his State when he entered service in the South. He was made Superintendent of the Briarfield Iron Works and reconstructed them, and while at work there was appointed Head Master and afterwards Vice Chancellor of the University of the South at Sewanee, Tennessee. Here he ex- hibited that great administrative capacity which had characterized his control of the Ordnance Department. He developed the High School to the University, and with the assistance of the clergy and laity of the Episcopal Church, established it upon the basis which it has occupied as one of the leading Universities of the South. At Sewanee, his administration embraced all of that imperium in imperio which the State of Tennessee conceded to the University.

In 1877 he was elected President of the University of Alabama, and removed to Tuskaloosa. In the brief term of his administration he gave new life and character to the University, inaugurating plans for its improvement, which have been followed since by the distin- guished President, B. B. Lewis, who succeeded him, arid placed it upon a basis gratifying to the pride of the whole people of the State of Alabama.

General Gorgas found that his health was failing, and that he could not satisfactorily discharge the duties of President, and re- signed. The trustees of the University requested him to withhold his resignation and accept a leave of absence until lie regained his health, but he considered that this was not just to them nor to the officer who might be called to fill his place, and he desired complete rest; he, therefore, insisted upon resigning.

The trustees thereupon adopted the following resolutions: