Leonidas Polk Family Papers

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famous men the University of the South rightly holds first claim. But Sewanee's title must not be allowed to be exclusive. These men belong also the the Protestant Episcopal Church; they belong to the Anglican Communion; they belong to the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church of the ages. And at the head of their line we rejoice to recognize that grand triumvirate of Bishops and Fathers in God -- James Hervey Otey of Tennessee, Stephen Elliott of Georgia, and, in their center, Leonidas Polk, Missionary Bishop of Arkansas and the Southwest, first Foreign Missionary Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church, first Bishop of Louisiana, and, in the words of Bishop Quintard, "the projector, originator, and real founder of the University of the South."

The life of Leonidas Polk was impressed from the beginning with a military character. Both his father and his grandfather had been soldiers of the Revolution. Born on April 10, 1806, in Raleigh, North Carolina, he received

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of God!" Then striking the stone three times with a hammer, he said: "In the Name of the Holy and Undivided Trinity! Father! Son! and Holy Ghost! Three Persons -- one God, blessed forever, Amen. I Leonidas Polk, D.D., Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Louisiana, on this tenth day of October, and in the year of Grace, 1860, do lay this corner-stone of an edifice to e here erected as the principal building of the 'University of the South', an Institution established by the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Dioceses of Arkansas, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas, for the cultivation of true religion, learning and virtue, that thereby God may be glorified, and the happiness of man be advanced. Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ; the same yesterday, today, and forever: God over all, blessed forever, in whom we have redemption through His Blood, even the forgiveness of sins; for there is none other