Polk Family Papers Box 1 Document 3

1.

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Mr. Toastmaster, Dr. W{struckthrough: h}its{the "s" is handwritten over "z"}ell, etc. etc. There exists a close feeling of friendship, not so say kinship between Christ Church, Nashville and your great Parish here. For the period 1875 - 1886 - The Rev. Mr. Tupper was your Rector and today Christ Church, Nashville is overflowing with sons and grand-sons of that eminent old gentleman, all useful and valuable citizens. Then again our Parish gave to Arksansas your beloved Bishop Winchester who was consecrated in 1898 and who served you so long and faithfully. {Struckthrough: During his life Leonidas Polk had only two residences, the first one in Murray County, Tennessee from which he went to take up his duties as Missionary Bishop of the Southwest which constitutes a third bond between us.} {Handwritten to the side of strikethrough: A}

{Struckthrough: It seems to me that} Leonidas Polk's life falls into three divisions, first his early life and education, second his missionary episcopate in the Southwest and Louisiana{handwritten: ,} which will bring us {struckthrough: up} to the Civil War{handwritten: ,} and 3rd the Confederate General.

Bishop Polk was born on April 10, 1806 at Raleigh, N.C. and was given the name Leonidas which is equally expressive of the literary and military interests of his sire. His father, Col. Wm. Polk {illegible insert} had served with honor in the Revolution. He was an intimate friend of Andrew Jackson and{handwritten: ,} as President of the Bank of N.C. had given Andrew Johnson's father his first job. Likewise he had commissioned Samuel Polk, father of Jas. K. Polk to handle and dispose of some of his vast real-estate holdings in N.C. Thus the Colonel was intimately associated with the 3 Presidents who entered the White House through the gates of Tennessee.

{Handwritten: B}

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Now I didn't come to Little Rock to preach you a sermon - This is no{struckthrough: t} {struckthrough: the} place for it {added:}-- which reminds me of a tale they tell on my father. One Sunday he was ushering in Christ Church, Nashville when during the {struckthrough: service}sermon a lady sitting far down on the left side of the center aisle began voicingher approval of the sermon by loud exclamations and Amens. After a conference {x-ed out: with} among the ushers it was agreed that he should go down and remonstrate with her. So he walked down the aisle, tapped the lady on {struckthrough: her} the shoulder and said: "Madam, please try to be a little more quiet. You are disturbing those around you." She looked up in a very surpri{"s" written over the "z"}ed manner and said "Why, Mr. Gale, I am just getting religion". Without thinking my father replied "Well, this is no place for it." It seems to me however, that one of the best {struckthrough: sentiments}sermons that could be preached is a review of the life and works of a noble and valiant man, a soldier of {x-ed out: the Cross} Christ and a soldier of the Confederacy.

A1 page 1

{illegible x-ed out}

was supposed to have been one of the authors of the legendary Mecklenberg Declaration of Independence and

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His mother was Sarah Hawkins, a daughter of Philomon Hawkins a former governor of North Carolina.

Little is known of Leonidas Polk's early life and boyhood but it is assumed that it was that of a normal boy reared in a large but well to do family. He entered the University of N.C. at Chapel Hill in 1821 but it was natural with a Revolutionary Colonel in the family and the name of a Spartan Hero to live up to that young Polk's ambition should turn to a military life. Through the influence of his father he obtained an appointment to West Point which delighted him very much and he entered the Point in June 1823. {Added: While at that time} The Point was not a popular institution with many people who considered it dangerous to the liberties of a Republic{added: ,} {struckthrough: but} by 1823 it had come to be accepted as a necessary evil, but to the planter class in the South{added: ,} who liked to think of themselves as the American equivalent of the English Aristocracy{added: ,} it seemed that{x-ed out: a} military service offered an appropriate career for a gentleman and that the academy {struckthrough: offered them} {added: provided} an ideal opportunity for embarking upon such a career. {inserted: Paragraph symbol} There he was known to his friends as gay, high spirited, daring, not particularly studious, not too scrupulously observant of the rules {struckthrough: and} {added: of discipline} {struckthrough: regulations} and all too ready at times to join in jovial escapades in which the virtue of moderation often was forgotten. But he made good grades{added: ,} standing 7th in his class in mathematics and quite high in other studies and was ever conscientious and persevering.

In his selection of his intimates he was not only discreet but fortunate. One of his earliest and closest friends {struckthrough: being} {added:}was Albert Sidney Johnson with whom he roomed. Other close associates were Robert E. Lee, Joseph E. Johnson and the future President of the Confederacy, Jefferson Davis. Religion had never played an important part in young Polk's life for his

father was not a religious man and although he did not openly scoff at Christianity as so many of his contemporaries {insert: did,} he. made no effort to provide his children with a religious up-bringing and Leonidas had little chance of finding elsewhere what he failed to find at home. Just at theat time {struckthrough: fate was directing} {added: there came} into Polk's life the influence and friendship of a man who until the end of his career was to exercise a very great influence {struckthrough: on} {added: upon} him.

In 1825 John C. Calhoun, then Secretary of War{added: ,} appointed as Chaplain of West Point the Rev. Chas. P. McIlvaine. He hesitated to accept the post for two reasons, his you{struckthrough: ng; added: th,} and the well known prevalence of unbelief at the Academy. But a sense of duty impelled him to go. He found {insert symbol: that} religious conditions of the Point had not been painted in too gloomy terms. The officers were polite and friendly but no one of them wouldprofess the least interest in religion. He saw the cadets only in Chapel and was unable to{struckthrough: c} gain the friendship of any of them{added: ,} for they avoided him studiously for fear that they might be considered {added: "}religious.{added"} Even in chapel they spent their time reading or sleeping{added: ,} but {struckthrough: he} {added: McIlvaine} was known throughout his life as a great preacher and no doubt he touched the hearts and minds of the cadets more than they were willing to admit. {Struckthrough: Many} {Added: Several} accounts have been given of Polk's conversion but I have {struckthrough: in my possession} an account {added: of it} written by McIlvaine{added: ,} then Bishop of Ohio{added: ,} to Bishop Quintard bearing the date of December 1868 and these are the true facts:

It seems that a certain cadet had promised his father when he wnt to the Point that he would call on the Chaplain. Through neglect and fear of {added: the} disapproval of his fellow students he put it off until after his father's death and then{added: ,} on a Sunday evening{added: ,} knocked {struckthrough: on} {added: at} the Chaplain's door. {Added: In the more than a year he had been there this} was the

first student who had {struckthrough: entered} {added: called} and McIlvaine was of course delighted. On leaving he gave the cadet two tracts, one for a person in distress and the other addressed to an unbeliever, saying {added: of the latter} "Take this and drop it somewhere in the Barracks; perhaps I shall hear of it again" The caded smiled and said he would do as asked. A week later another student knocked {struckthrough: on} {added: at} his door and on being admitted held out his hand and said: "My name is Polk" He could say no more{added: ,} it seems for fear of losing control of his feelings. In a moment he burst into the most feeling and intense expression of a mind convinced of sin{added: ,} and earnestly begged to b told what he must do for salvation. He had conversed with nobody{added: ,} but there was no one there but his chaplain who could have comprehended his state of mind. McIlvaine asked him {struckthrough: out that he} {added: how it had} come about{added: ,} and he {struckthrough: presented} {added: showed him} the tract addressed to an unbeliever which he {struckthrough: stated} {added: said} he had found in his room. This was the first instance in the history of the Academy where a student had come out and taken a firm stand for Christ. He fully considered how he would be wondered at and observed and ridiculed by the studentbody. He reflected how no cadet had ever knelt in the service{added: s,} and so far as was remembered no officer or professor. He asked {struckthrough: me} {added: him} what he should do{added: ,} not having the slightest idea of shrinking from a duty and yet not wishing to make himself {insert symbol: too much} an object of observation. {Struckthrough: I} {Added: McIlvaine} recommended that he be baptized at once and offered to do it privately. {Struckthrough: He} {Added: This Polk} declined{added: ,} {struckthrough: that} stating that he had been open in his unbelief and that he would / {struckthrough: accordingly} {added: be equally} open in his conversion{added: ;} and so on Sunday, May 25, 1826 in chapel with the full corps of cadets, officers and instructors {struckthrough: and attendants} {added: present}, Leonidas Pok came forward and was baptized. The service of {struckthrough: adu}