Moses Drury Hoge: life and letters

Front matter

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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT

MOEBIUS, CAMDEN. N.

Preface

There was a very general impression after Dr. Hoge's death, and the statement was frequently made in the public press, that he had left in manuscript a volume of reminiscences which only needed editing to be given to the public. Unfortunately such was not the case. While he had frequently been importuned to prepare such a volume, and had fully purposed to do so, in the pressure of other duties he had never even commenced it, and left not a line of autobiography or personal reminiscence except his published Memorial Address. It was necessary, therefore, to gather up the materials of this biography from family letters and records, from his own correspondence, extending through over sixty years, from contemporary newspaper reports and church records, and from the personal knowledge of his family and friends. Fortunately some of those to whom he wrote most freely, recognizing the value of his letters, had carefully preserved them, while it was the custom of some of his friends, and later of his daughter, to preserve newspaper notices of his work. From this mass of material I have endeavored to select what would best illustrate the life I sought to present, and the times in which that life was lived; endeavoring to keep in mind — however imperfectly I have succeeded — the words of Emerson, that "all public facts are to be individualized, and all private facts are to be generalized. Thus, at once, History becomes fluid and true, and Biography deep and sublime."

In discussing Dr. Hoge's part in the civil war and the related controversies, fidelity to my subject required that I should present as correctly and adequately as possible the point of view of that time; while the same fidelity to his vi

Preface.

whole subsequent course required that in so doing I should avoid awakening past animosities, and should study the things that make for peace.

Besides the members of Dr. Hoge's immediate family, who have given me the heartiest cooperation in my work, I desire to make my acknowledgments to Governor J. Hoge Tyler and Major Thomas C. Hoge for important genealogical data ; to my honored preceptor, Dr. W. Gordon McCabe, for directing my attention to the valuable work on the Haigs of Bemerside; to the editors of the Richmond Dispatch, Richmond \Times and Central Presbyterian for access to their files, and for other courtesies; to the Stated Clerks of the Synods of Virginia and North Carolina, the Secretaries of the Presbyterian Historical Society and of Hampden-Sidney College, and the Librarian of Union Theological Seminary, for use of, and information from, the records in their hands.

Special mention is due to my brother, Professor Addison Hogue, for his painstaking care in reading the proof-sheets and for many valuable suggestions.

It is with peculiarly tender and grateful emotions that I refer, in completing this work, to him with whom it was first commenced — the late William Sterling Lacy. Nearly ten years ago we planned it together, and the lines on which it was then projected have been practically followed in its execution. It was then proposed to prepare it jointly, and when this was found impracticable I hoped that I would at least have the benefit of his exquisite taste and rare literary skill before giving it to the public. But even this was rendered impossible by his failing health, and just when its last pages were given to the printers he finished his course, and his tender, gracious spirit went to meet his God.

It only remains to add that I have no pecuniary interest in the book, but that it has been throughout a labor of love.

Appendix

I. Oration. — At the Unveiling of the Statue of Stonewall Jackson, in the Capitol Square, Richmond, Va., October 26, 1876, 425 II. Address. — At the Mass-Meeting in the Capitol Square, Richmond, Va., after the Assassination of President Garfield, July 5, 1881, . . 448

III. Family Religion. — An Address Before the Evangelical Alli-

ance, in Copenhagen, 452

IV. The Private Soldier. — An Address before the Mass-Meeting

held in the Interest of the Monument on Libby Hill, Richmond, Va., November 30, 1892, 456

V. Address. — In the Second Presbyterian Church, Richmond,

Va., December n, 1889, the day appointed by the Governor for the Commemoration of the Death of Hon. Jefferson Davis, 463

VI. Memorial Address. — On his Fiftieth Anniversary, in the Sec-

ond Presbyterian Church, Richmond, Va., February 27, 1895, 471

PRAYERS.

At the Memorial Mass-meeting in the Capitol Square after the

"Capitol Disaster," April 29, 1870, 492

At the Re-interment of Confederate Soldiers in Hollywood, May

29> 1873 494

At the Unveiling of the Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument, Libby

Contents. ix

Page.

At the Re-interment of President Davis, May 30, 1893, . . . 496

At the Dedication of the Confederate Museum, February 22, 1896, 498

Memorial Day, Hollywood, May 30, 1898, 499

On Opening the State Democratic Convention, 1889, . . . 501 On Opening the Session of the House of Delegates, December 4,

1891, 502

At the Inauguration of Governor J. Hoge Tyler, January 1, 1898, 502 On the Opening of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway, Greeting the Arrival of the First Through Freight from the Ohio to

the James, February 13, 1873, 504

At the Dedication of the Chamber of Commerce Building, December 28, 1893, . . .; 505

At the Dedication of the New City Hall, February 16, 1894, . . 506 At the Commencement of the University College of Medicine,

At the Administration of the Bread at the last Joint Communion Service of the Presbyterian Churches of Richmond During

his Life, January 2, 1898, 50S

Index,

"Among the great gifts that God has given to men is the gift of men ; and among all the gifts with which God has enriched His church, one of the greatest has been the gift of consecrated men, for they are the instrumentalities by which the church has been moulded and guided and prospered in all the generations of the world." — Moses Drury Hoge, Sermon on the death of Dr. Broaches.

Moses Drury Hoge.

Moses drury Hoge.

CHAPTER I. Ancestry

"A tree is known by its fruits; and a noble house by a noble man." — Arabic Proverb.

HERE is a pride of ancestry as foolish as it is false.

1 When a noble name is borne by an ignoble man it only serves to make its owner contemptible. But there is a pride of ancestry that awakens responsibility ; that stimulates endeavor; that purifies motive and shapes the life to noble ends. Consciousness of whence we are may largely determine what we are. But apart from conscious influence, is not the Whence a true cause of the What? Great men often arise from very obscure origin. But the historian and biographer are never satisfied until they have traced back the extraordinary qualities of their hero to a source that is none the less real because it is obscure. It takes many streams to make the river, and the virtues of many lowly men and women struck together in happy combination "to give the world assurance of a man." When the streams are on the surface, and the same qualities can be traced for generations, our task is plainer and our reward surer. And when natural virtues are exalted by divine grace, we can rejoice not only in the fixedness of Nature's laws, but — what is far better — the sureness of the covenant promises of God.

The oldest reference to the name of Hoge with which we have met is in 1425, when "Patrick Hoge and Gilbert Hoge, Squiris," are named among the gentlemen who "devydit the

Moses Drury Hoge.

Marches betwixt Ridbeth and Bemersyde." Sir Andrew Haig, the Laird of Bemersyde, preceding the Laird in whose time this division was made, had been the first to drop the spelling de Haga for the spelling Haig, which is still in use. Etymologically the names are the same, and the finding of them in the same neighborhood suggests the probability that Hoge is only another variant of Haga or Hage, and that the Hoges as well as the Haigs are descended from Petrus de Haga, who came from Normandy about 1150. This Peter of the Dyke — probably from Cape de la Hague in Normandy — founded an honorable family, early associated with the cause of liberty and patriotism. For —

" When Wallace came to Gladswood cross, Haig of Bemersyde met him with many good horse."

And before the battle of Stirling the Laird of Bemersyde was reassured by his friend "Thomas the Rhymer" with the prophecy which still holds good —

" Tyde what may betyde, Haig shall be Haig of Bemersyde."

Or, as Sir W alter puts it — who derived his right to be buried in Dryburgh Abbey from his descent from the Haigs —

" Tide, betide, whate'er betide, Haig shall be Haig of Bemersyde."

The Humes, with whom we shall later find the Hoges associated, were also a Berwickshire family, and much associated with the Haigs of Bemersyde.

A beautifully engrossed book, containing the family history and coat-of-arms, remained in possession of the Pennsylvania branch of the Hoge family in this country within the memory of those still living, but cannot now be found. In the absence of the written evidence, we will not give the interesting details that are recalled by some who were more or less familiar with its contents, but will confine ourselves to the well-established story of the founder of the family in this country.

Ancestry.

About the close of the seventeenth century a young man named William Hoge — evidently in good circumstances — came to America on account of the religious persecutions under the Stuarts. In the same ship was a family named Hume — father, mother and daughter, Barbara by name. Hume was one of two brothers, men of wealth and standing, who differed on the great question of the day. One of the brothers "conformed" ; the other was true to the Kirk and covenant. He was imprisoned and most of his property confiscated, but through the influence of his brother was released on condition of his emigrating to America. During the long voyage a pestilence broke out in the overcrowded ship, and Mr. and Mrs. Hume were among the victims. Barbara was left alone, and William Hoge became her protector. He delivered her and her property into the hands of an uncle — a physician named Johnson — who was already in New York, while he went to Perth-Amboy to make himself a home. But it was not a final farewell. An attachment had sprung up between them, and in due time he returned to make her his wife.

William Hoge removed from Perth-Amboy to Delaware, and then to the Cumberland Valley, in Pennsylvania. Here his eldest son John remained, founding the village of Hogetown. In the church founded by him in 1734, there still exist an old communion service of hammered pewter and a pulpit Bible — the gifts of members of his family. From him is sprung a branch of the family scattered from New York to California, but chiefly found in Pennsylvania ; men of substance and character ; bankers, lawyers, judges, members of Congress, with now and then a minister of the gospel; leaders in church and state. 1

1 He married a Welsh heiress, Gwenthelen Bowen Davis. His son, David, through a treaty with the Indian Chief Catfish, purchased almost the whole of what is now Washington county, and with his nephew, David Redick, afterwards vice-president of Pennsylvania, laid off the town of Catfish, now Washington. His sons, John and William, were

Moses Drury Hoge.

But William Hoge found not here his resting place. About 1735, though advanced in years, he removed to Frederick county, Va., on the Opequon branch of the Potomac. Here he made his home. Here he gave land for church and school and burying ground — the old Opequon Church — the first place of worship in the Valley of Virginia. Its first regular 'minister was his grandson, the Rev. John Hoge, son of his oldest son John. He came fresh from Nassau Hall, where he graduated in the first class sent out by that venerable institution. After a useful ministry in Virginia, he returned to Pennsylvania. While pastor at Opequon he received a visit from the Rev. Hugh McAden, on his way to his pioneer mission in North Carolina, where now 1 a great-great-great-grandson of William Hoge preaches to the great-great-grandchildren of Hugh McAden. There are still some things fixed in this changing world, and more changeful land.

William Hoge lived full ninety years. He saw his children and grandchildren serving God and their generation; the honest, God-fearing makers of a new world. God made him forget all his toil and all his father's house. He sleeps in the old Opequon church-yard.

The old church lived on for generations. Three successive buildings arose on the spot, and its sons and daughters went forth into many States, though many sleep around it. At length it was outgrown, and in time superseded, by the daughter church of Winchester. But recently the crumbling stones have been built anew; a memorial of the worthy dead.

both members of Congress. Another son, David, was the first receiver of the United States Land Office, with headquarters at Steubenville, Ohio. Justice Shiras, of the United States Supreme Court, is a descendant of ^one of his daughters. William and Thomas Scott Hoge, of the long-closed banking house of William Hoge and Company, New York, were sons of David Hoge, of Steubenville. These are but a few representative names.

1 Written before his recent removal.

Ancestry.

John was the only one of William Hoge's sons who settled in Pennsylvania. The others moved with their father to Virginia; William, who married a Quakeress and joined the sect, leaving many descendants ; George, who removed to the South; James, of whom Ave shall have more to say; and Alexander, who was a member of the First Congress of the United States, and of the Virginia convention that ratified the Constitution.

Our concern is with the fourth son, James ; and of him we know more ; a man of robust intellect and a self-taught theologian. Dr. Archibald Alexander, when a young licentiate, visited him, and was impressed with the vigor of his mind and the clearness of his views even in old age. In early life he satisfied himself of the scripturalness of every statement of the Westminster Confession of Faith, and when the "Synod of New York and Philadelphia" introduced certain changes, he withdrew from its communion and united with the Scotch secession. Twice a year he went to a church in Pennsylvania to participate in the communion. Late in life his scruples were removed, through the instrumentality of his son. He died June 2, 1795, at an advanced age.

James Hoge was twice married, and had many children. We need name but two, James and Moses.

James, a son of his first wife, Agnes, left home in search of his brother John, who was supposed to have joined Braddock's army and to have been killed at Fort DuOuesne. He did not find his brother, but he found a home and a wife, and settled in Pulaski county. His homestead is now the home of his great-grandson, the Honorable J. Hoge Tyler, the present Governor of Virginia. His son was General James Hoge, 1 a man of fine intellect and one of the handsomest men in the State. His son, Daniel Hoge, was elected to Congress

1 This branch of the family seems to have been the fighting stock. Brigadier-General Funston, who has distinguished himself in the Philippines, is a great-grandson of General Hoge.

Moses Drury Hoge.

in 1865, an d was a brilliant and popular speaker. The descendants of James Hoge, of Pulaski, have not only been prominent in the State, but many of them have been influential as ruling elders in the councils of the church. They have kept in close intimacy with the descendants of the other son of James Hoge, of Frederick, of whom we must speak at more length.

Moses Hoge was the ninth son of his father, and the fourth son of his mother, Nancy Griffiths. He was born at Cedar Grove — his father's home in Frederick — February 15, 1752. His mother is described as of "respectable understanding and sincere piety," but his remarkable endowments seem to have come from his father. Saint, scholar and preacher, it is difficult to say whether gifts or graces were most preeminent. His intellect grasped the Calvinistic system in its entirety before he had even an academic education ; his heart was so tender that he wept — so his students said — over the fate of the devils, to whom no mercy was offered. Of his own experience he said that he had never known the time when he had not loved the Lord; yet he never knew the time when he thought he loved him as he ought. His piety was of that old-fashioned Brainerd type, that wept in secret over imperfections that no one else discovered, and agonized in prayer over the souls committed to his charge; all of which we may see from his journal. From devotions like these he went into his pulpit, and men trembled and prayed and believed at his word. There might be more of such praying and such preaching now; to the advantage of our times.

Nobody reads now his "Strictures on a Pamphlet by the Rev. Jeremiah Walker Entitled the Fourfold Foundation of Calvinism Examined and Shaken;" but it is the testimony of no less an authority than the late Dr. Dabney, that it was he who impressed upon the Virginia ministry that moderate type of evangelical Calvinism that has ever since distinguished it ; and Archibald Alexander was in his youth

Ancestry.

indebted to him for correcter views of divine grace in regeneration; 1 thus Princeton felt his impress, and his line went out into all the earth. His Sophist Unmasked, a reply to Payne, no longer meets the attacks of infidelity; but his preaching, and his teaching, and his life, did much to stem the tide of Atheism and of "French infidelity" in his day. Five years of missionary work in Hampshire county; twenty years laboring for souls in Shepherdstown, whose church he founded; thirteen years preaching and teaching and preparing men for the ministry at Hampden-Sidney — this was the brief measure of his life-work. For he lived not long, and he began late. He succeeded Archibald Alexander as president of Hampden-Sidney — a much younger man ; but at the age when Archibald Alexander entered upon those duties, Moses Hoge had not even entered an academy. Whither he might never have gone, had not two strangers been so impressed with his self-taught acquirements as to persuade his father to give him a liberal education — no easy thing in those times. Started on this, he stopped for a year to volunteer in the revolutionary army. Then three years under Dr. Graham in academic training at Liberty Hall, and two years more of divinity under the same teacher ; such was his preparation. It was not the age of specialists, but solid and well-rounded scholars turned out scholars as solid and well-rounded as themselves.

While the histories of Union Theological Seminary have never ignored the preliminary work of Dr. Hoge, it has generally been assumed that its distinct organic life began with Dr. Rice. This seems hardly true to history; nor does it at all detract from the "mart of the large honors" well earned by Dr. Rice by his great labors in enlarging and endowing it. No more are his labors set aside by the

1 Dr. Alexander's biographer refers this to his father, James Hoge. But Dr. Alexander's own statement, which is quoted, has been misunderstood. Life of Dr. Alexander, p. 120. The reference on page 91 is to the father.

men of our own time in giving it a fitter location and a more splendid equipment.

The Theological School under Dr. Hoge was not a mere department of the college, but a separate and distinct institution, founded by the Synod of Virginia, who elected Dr. Hoge its professor in the same year that the General Assembly called Dr. Alexander to Princeton. In that year ( 1812), and not in 1823, the history of our Theological Seminary begins. 1 Dr. Hoge was faithful to the college, but he spent himself and his substance for the Theological Seminary. And as long as he was willing to do this the Synod was content to let him do it ; only when he was gone was it roused to the necessity of a more liberal provision; and but for Dr. Rice it is questionable whether anything

1 On what ground can the present seminary be considered a different institution? Because Dr. Hoge had no distinct building? Dr. Rice taught his first classes in President Cushing's kitchen. Because Dr. Hoge was also president of the college? The seminary has always permitted her professors to hold other positions; as, for instance, to be pastors of churches. Because of the change of control? During Dr. Rice's time, Hanover Presbytery handed it over to the Synods of Virginia and North Carolina, as, after Dr. Hoge's death, the Synod of Virginia had handed it over to the Presbytery. Because of the change of name? The present name was not adopted until the joint control was established. Because it had no board of Trustees? Their names are recorded in the manuscript Life of Dr. Hoge, and their reports were regularly called for in the Synod (see Minutes). Because it had no charter? A charter was applied for by petition of the board, and refused on the same ground that it was refused down to 1868, and in 1816 the Synod appointed "John H. Rice, William Wirt r LL. D., and Benjamin Harrison to draw up a memorial, stating the disadvantages under which the Synod lies from the refusal of the Legislature to grant a charter to the trustees of the Theological Seminary." (Dr. Rice's connection with this matter has probably led to the idea that it was during his administration.) Because it had no endowment? The salary of the professor and aid to students were paid from its funds, and the Synod turned over to the Presbytery eight thousand seven hundred and fifty-six dollars and four cents — the nucleus of the present endowment of the Seminary. Because its exercises were suspended upon Dr. Hoge's death? But the continuity was preserved by the guardianship of its funds by the Synod and Presbytery. During t he civil war the exercises were again practically suspended.

Ancestry.

would have been done even then; all of which may be read more amply told in Foote.

Dr. Hoge's first wife — and the mother of all his children — was Elizabeth Poage, a member of that remarkable family of the Valley of Virginia that has given to the church about two hundred ministers, ministers' wives and missionaries. A saintly and lovable person she seems to have been, and he lavished on her all the tenderness of his affectionate nature. Yet when she died he had the extraordinary firmness to stand by her open grave and preach with a pathos that melted every heart in the astonished assembly, on the text, "Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord." There were strong men in those days, and eternal things were very real. Personal grief must be crushed down that souls might be saved.

His second wife, and the companion of his labors at Hampden-Sidney, was Mrs. Susan Hunt, mentioned as Susan Watkins, in the Life of Doctor Alexander, with gratitude for her conversation during the "great revival"; a noble and helpful wife, sharing his sacrifices and spending her substance, as he spent his, to help needy students. Her son, brought up by Dr. Hoge, was the well-known Thomas P. Hunt, celebrated in his day as a temperance lecturer.

Death came to Dr. Hoge in Philadelphia, where he had gone to attend the General Assembly. "Translated," as his epitaph says, "from the General Assembly on earth to the general assembly and church of the firstborn." He died July 5, 1820, aged sixty-eight years, and is buried near his old friend, John Blair Smith. He had just visited the graveyard at Princeton with Dr. Alexander, where he too has long lain, and enjoyed delightful intercourse with his friend; doubtless long ago renewed above.

There are many delightful stories afloat of Dr. Hoge's saintly character, especially of his unworldliness ; one of his quiet courage may be told, because authenticated. During

Moses Drury Hoge.

the "Western insurrection" he was anxious for the Synod of Virginia to make a deliverance against lawlessness. The measure failed, as savoring of politics, and the Virginia troops quartered at Harrisonburg (where the Synod was meeting) on their way to the scene of the insurrection, were much incensed; the talk was of tar and feathers for some of the dignitaries; but Dr. Hoge worked his way to the midst of them, and not only dissuaded them from their purpose, but made such an impression upon them that they asked him to preach ; and the mob was turned into a congregation. The story justifies John Randolph's opinion that there were only two men who could bring quiet to a certain court-green on court day — "Patrick Henry by his eloquence, and Dr. Hoge by simply passing through."

This same keen-eyed Randolph has given the best picture of the man. Cowper drew the portrait, Randolph made the application. The poet says :

" I venerate the man whose heart is warm, Whose hands are pure, whose doctrine and whose life, Coincident, exhibit lucid proof That he is honest in the sacred cause.

To such I render more than mere respect, Whose actions say that they respect themselves."

And farther on :

" Would I describe a preacher such as Paul, Were he on earth, would hear, approve and own — Paul should himself direct me. I would trace His master strokes and draw from his design. I would express him simple, grave, sincere; In doctrine uncorrupt; in language plain, And plain in manner; decent, solemn, chaste, And natural in gesture; much impressed Himself, as conscious of his awful charge, And anxious mainly that the flock he feeds May feel it too; affectionate in look, And tender in address, as well becomes A messenger of grace to guilty men."

By each of these passages, in a copy of Cowper purchased from Randolph's library, is written in his hand, "Mr. Hoge."

Ancestry.

ii

But now of him no more, though on such a life the pen delights to linger. He bequeathed to his descendants little of this world's goods. But he left them a name that they treasure as above great riches. The venerable Dr. Plumer once said, on seeing one of the younger descendants, "He has the Hoge jerk." One may be glad to be marked as the descendant of such a man, even by an ungraceful gesture.

Four of Dr. Hoge's sons grew to manhood; three became ministers of the gospel in his life-time ; the fourth was a beloved physician and an honored ruling elder in the church.

James Hoge, the eldest, was the pioneer Presbyterian missionary of Ohio. His parish extended to the Mississippi, but he settled in Columbus, Ohio, where he built the first house, and which he saw grow up around him. He organized the First Presbyterian Church, and celebrated his jubilee as its pastor. His experience differed from that of his nephew — to be hereafter related — in that it was not his only charge, and that he had retired from active service two years before. He was the founder of many of the great charitable institutions of the State. When President Hayes and his Cabinet visited Richmond, Va., in 1877, and met his nephew, Mr. Hayes and Mr. Sherman told him that they could not remember the time when they had not learned to revere the name of Hoge. We shall hear of him again in these pages.

Dr. James Hoge had one son in the ministry, the late Rev. Dr. Moses A. Hoge, and one daughter, Elizabeth, who was married to the well-known evangelist of Alabama, the Rev. Dr. Robert Nail, and was the mother of the Rev. Dr. James Hoge Nail, of New Orleans, and the Rev. Dr. Robert H. Nail, of Greenwood, S. C.

John Blair Hoge was the most gifted of the sons. He began to study for the law, but early felt the divine call, and gave himself to the gospel ministry. He inherited the feeble

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constitution of his mother, and in the autumn of 1814 went to the south of France for the recovery of his health, running in the night the British blockade of New York. "On the eighth day we fell in with the British seventy-four gun ship Bellerophon, 1 Captain Hawkes. We were of course brought to, and boarded by some of the officers. They examined our papers and endorsed them as being under Swedish colors. They inquired if there were any Americans on board. Had he asked me I should not have hesitated to say, 'Yes' ; but the captain, of whom the inquiry was made, answered in the negative. We were, therefore, without further examination, suffered to proceed. Had it been known that our whole establishment was an imposition — that the vessel was American and had been captured from the British, and that there were six Americans aboard — perhaps we might not have escaped with so much facility. The deception was not then generally known to the passengers." They landed at St. Martin's, Isle de Re, on the thirty-first day.