Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 13.djvu/228

 A Sketch of the Life of General Gorgas. 227

with the University continued to the time of his death. Fitting honors were paid to his mortal remains, and the memory of his vir- tues and worth will long remain a precious heritage to those who were privileged to know him.

The Board of Trustees of the University of the South, adopted the following, " Minute in reference to General Joslah Gorgas, late Vice Chancellor:

" General Gorgas was chosen to be the Head Master of the Academic Department upon its organization in 1868, and remained at its head until the close of the Lent Term, 1877. During all this period his rule was signalized by the most faithful devotion to its interest, the most exact and patient performance of the duties of his position all with a sweet and gentle courtesy. This Board de- sires to record its high admiration of his character as a Christian gentleman, faithful to every trust."

Many tributes were paid to his memory. Judge John A. Camp- bell writes :

" My acquaintance with General Gorgas, commenced after his marriage with the daughter of my friend, Judge Gayle, of Alabama, in 1853. He had graduated with honor at the Military Academy at West Point. He had served with credit in the Mexican War ; and was then connected with the Ordnance Department of the United States. After the formation of the Confederate Government, Cap- tain Gorgas was attached to the Ordnance Department, became its Chief, and finally held the rank of Brigadier-General.

" When John Brown, in the year, made his incursion into Vir- ginia, and was captured, there was discovered a correspondence by him with the Chief of Ordnance of the Department at Washington, and that he had obtained circumstantial information of the state and condition of the ordnance stores of the United States; the plans of their deposit and who had possession of them. The inquiry ascer- tained the fact that the supplies in the slave holding States were comparatively inconsiderable, and in some of those States there was destitution. This condition existed in 1861, when the war among the States commenced. A Chief of the Ordnance Department be- came an organizer of a branch of industry of supreme importance in the circumstances existing in the South."

In his personal life, General Gorgas was careful and regular in the performance of his duties cultivated simple in his tastes and modest in his deportment faithful to his family and friends upright and honorable in all his dealings.