Benjamin Sherwood Hedrick

Life and Orange County connections

Storylines this person is part of, in date order. Each has its own page.

Dated events connected with this person, in date order. See these 17 dated events in the chronology →

1. 1851 Benjamin S. Hedrick graduates from the university with first honors Hedrick, who had entered the sophomore class in 1848, graduated in 1851 at the head of his class and was strongest in mathematics. On President Swain's recommendation he was then given a clerkship in the Nautical Almanac office at Cambridge, Massachusetts. People: David L. Swain, William A. Graham Place: University of North Carolina, Chapel HillSearch the index · J. G. de Roulhac Hamilton, Benjamin Sherwood Hedrick (1910), scan p. 8
2. 1854 to 1855 Benjamin Hedrick's house with an eight-sided room goes up on East Rosemary Street Professor Benjamin Hedrick's house at 610 East Rosemary Street, known for its octagonal room, was ready by 1855 and the Hedricks moved in; Preservation Chapel Hill credits the Hillsborough builder John Berry and Hedrick's own design, and Little says he bought an older farmhouse from the university and added the eight-sided room. Horace Williams later owned it, and Preservation Chapel Hill now has its offices there. People: John Berry Place: Chapel Hill · Also named: Benjamin Hedrick, Horace WilliamsSearch the index · Preservation Chapel Hill: Horace Williams House · Also: Chapel Hill Historical Society, 610 East Rosemary Street; The Daily Tar Heel, October 3, 1975, p. 1; The Daily Tar Heel, September 23, 1991, p. 5
3. January 1, 1854 School for the Application of Science to the Arts opens Under a trustee resolution of 1852 the university opened a scientific school with departments of civil engineering, under Charles Phillips, and of chemistry applied to agriculture and the arts, under Benjamin S. Hedrick, with a laboratory in the basement of Smith Hall. Its students could earn a Bachelor of Science in about two and a half years. People: Charles Phillips, Benjamin Sherwood Hedrick Place: Smith HallSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. I (1907), p. 642
4. January 1854 Benjamin Hedrick is appointed the university's professor of analytical and agricultural chemistry The university appointed Benjamin Sherwood Hedrick to its new chair of analytical and agricultural chemistry. He held it until the trustees' executive committee dismissed him in October 1856. Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · NCpedia: Hedrick, Benjamin Sherwood
5. August 1856 Professor Hedrick tells students at the Chapel Hill polls he would vote for a Fremont ticket After voting the Democratic ticket in the August state election, Hedrick was questioned by students outside the polling place and said he would support a Fremont ticket if one existed. A garbled report that he had preached abolition to poor voters followed, and the remark grew into the case that cost him his chair. Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · J. G. de Roulhac Hamilton, Benjamin Sherwood Hedrick (1910), scan p. 22
6. October 1, 1856 Benjamin Hedrick answers his accusers with a public defence of his Free Soil views Attacked in the Raleigh Standard by an anonymous alumnus, later identified as law student John A. Engelhard, Hedrick wrote a reply from Chapel Hill saying he favored Fremont and opposed carrying slavery into the territories, citing Washington, Jefferson and Clay. The Standard printed it on October 4 and called for his removal. People: William W. Holden Place: Chapel Hill · Also named: John A. EngelhardSearch the index · J. G. de Roulhac Hamilton, Benjamin Sherwood Hedrick (1910), scan p. 17
7. October 4 and 6, 1856 Students burn Professor Hedrick in effigy on the campus On the Saturday night the Standard with Hedrick's letter reached Chapel Hill, students hung and burned him in effigy in the college grounds while the bell was tolled, and did it again on the Monday night. President Swain spoke to the whole student body on the Sunday morning, and talk of tarring and feathering him reached Raleigh. People: David L. Swain Place: University campus, Chapel HillSearch the index · J. G. de Roulhac Hamilton, Benjamin Sherwood Hedrick (1910), scan p. 21
8. October 6, 1856 The faculty vote 12 to 1 to disown Hedrick's published views Called together by President Swain, the faculty resolved that Hedrick's letter broke the university's custom of keeping out of party politics and that no other member shared his opinions, while expressing personal regard for him. Instructor H. Herrisse cast the only vote against, saying no one suspected the faculty of Republicanism. People: David L. Swain, Elisha Mitchell, James Phillips, Charles Phillips, Fordyce M. Hubbard Place: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill · Also named: H. HerrisseSearch the index · J. G. de Roulhac Hamilton, Benjamin Sherwood Hedrick (1910), scan p. 19
9. October 7, 1856 President Swain argues that the trustees' executive committee has no power to dismiss a professor Writing to trustee secretary Charles Manly, Swain read the charter to mean that only the full board could remove a professor, and only for misbehavior, inability or neglect of duty. He urged the committee to wait for the annual meeting and to charge Hedrick, if at all, with breaking university usage rather than with his opinions. People: David L. Swain, Charles Manly, Benjamin Sherwood Hedrick Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · J. G. de Roulhac Hamilton, Benjamin Sherwood Hedrick (1910), scan p. 30
10. October 11, 1856 The trustees' executive committee rules that Hedrick has destroyed his usefulness to the university Meeting under Governor Thomas Bragg, the committee resolved that Hedrick's letter broke the rule against professors agitating party politics, approved the faculty's stand, and found he could no longer serve the university. The resolutions were sent to Chapel Hill but not published. People: Thomas Bragg, Charles Lewis Hinton, Bartholomew F. Moore, Romulus M. (Romulus Mitchell) Saunders Place: Raleigh, for the University of North Carolina at Chapel HillSearch the index · J. G. de Roulhac Hamilton, Benjamin Sherwood Hedrick (1910), scan p. 25
11. October 14, 1856 Hedrick reports 14 scientific students and 44 seniors in his chemistry courses Asking the trustees for a full hearing, Hedrick described his scientific course: 14 students had enrolled in it that session and 44 seniors had chosen his subjects in place of the regular course. He asked the board to move carefully over a school in which he had staked a great deal. People: Charles Manly Place: University of North Carolina, Chapel HillSearch the index · J. G. de Roulhac Hamilton, Benjamin Sherwood Hedrick (1910), scan p. 34
12. October 18, 1856 The university dismisses Benjamin S. Hedrick over his Free Soil views In 1856 faculty member Benjamin S. Hedrick admitted and defended in the newspapers his preference for the Free Soil party. President David L. Swain disapproved of his speaking out, and on October 18, 1856 the trustees' executive committee, meeting in Raleigh, dismissed Hedrick and paid his salary to the end of the session; Swain objected only that the committee had taken authority belonging to the full board. People: David L. Swain, Benjamin Sherwood Hedrick Place: Chapel Hill, University of North CarolinaSearch the index · NCpedia (Dictionary of North Carolina Biography): Swain, David Lowry · Also: J. G. de Roulhac Hamilton, Benjamin Sherwood Hedrick; Hillsborough Recorder, November 12, 1856, p. 2