Very brief biographical information is included in these entries to set historical context of the authors and subjects of the works listed in this guide.
Most of the information on ministers comes from the "General Catalogues" (list of graduates and students) of the theological schools they attended. We have copies in our collection of the catalogues of Harvard, Andover, Princeton, Union, Meadville, Newton, New Brunswick, and Colgate-Rochester, and many of these and others can be found in Google Books. In addition, copies in Google Books of biographical sketches of the graduates of Harvard, Yale, Williams, and other colleges were found to be useful for compiling this data. The print Who Was Who. the Dictionary of American Biography, and other biographical reference sources were also used. For subjects and authors of those in official military service during the War, links have been created to the descriptions of regiments and battles from the National Park Service's Civil War site.
As with any undertaking of a project and presentation of this size, there are likely to be omissions and mistakes. Please email Research Services with comments and corrections.
Elias Nason (Apr. 21, 1811-June 17, 1887) graduated from Brown in 1835. He was the minister of the First Congregational Church in Exeter, New Hampshire, from 1861 to 1865.
Rollin Heber Neale (Feb. 23, 1808-Sept. 18, 1879) graduated from Columbian College (Washington, D.C.) in 1829 and the Newton Theological Institution in 1833. He was minister of the First Baptist Church in Boston from 1837 until his death.
James Neill (b. abt. 1814 in Belfast, Ireland; d. Feb. 8, 1893) was a member of the Philadelphia Methodist Episcopal Conference and served in the Pennsylvania legislature from 1879 to 1884, [Philadelphia inquirer, Feb. 9, 1893]
Edward Marshall Newcomb (October 2, 1840-December 20, 1862) graduated from Harvard College in 1860. He was a corporal, sergeant major, and first lieutenant in the 19th Regiment, Massachusetts Infantry. He was wounded in the First Battle of Fredericksburg on December 13 and died at the age of 22.
Richard Newton (July 26, 1812-May 25, 1887) graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1836 and from General Theological Seminary in 1839. He was the rector of the Church of the Epiphany in Philadelphia from 1862 to 1881.
William Rufus Nicholson (Jan. 8, 1822-June 7, 1901) graduated from LaGrange College (now the University of North Alabama). He was rector of St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Boston in the 1860s.
Henry Brooks O’Rielly was a second lieutenant and later captain in the 70th Regiment, New York Infantry. He was killed at age 23 in the Battle of Williamsburg on May 5, 1862. His funeral was held in St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Rochester, New York.
David Temple Packard (Aug. 24, 1824-Nov. 28, 1880) graduated from Amherst College in 1850 and from Bangor Theological Seminary in 1854. He was the minister of the First Congregational Society in Somerville, Massachusetts, from 1860-1866.
Levi Leonard Paine (Oct. 10, 1832 [not 1837]-May 10, 1902) graduated from Yale College in 1856 and from Yale Divinity School in 1859. He was the minister of the Congregational Church in Farmington, Connecticut, from 1861 to 1870.
Benjamin Morgan Palmer (Jan. 25, 1818-May 25, 1902) studied at Amherst College (1832-34), and graduated from the University of Georgia in 1838 and from Columbia Theological Seminary in 1841. He was the minister of the First Presbyterian Church in New Orleans from 1856 until his death. In 1861 the first General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the Confederate States of America elected Palmer as moderator.
Edwards Amasa Park (Dec. 29, 1808-June 4, 1900) graduated from Brown in 1826 and Andover Theological Seminary in 1831. He was the Professor of Sacred Rhetoric (1836-47) and Professor of Christian Theology (1847-81) at Andover Theological Seminary.
Andrew Preston Peabody (Mar. 19, 1811-Mar. 10, 1893) graduated from Harvard College in 1826 and from Harvard Divinity School in 1832. He was Preacher to the University and Plummer Professor of Christian Morals at Harvard from 1860 until his death (emeritus after 1881).
Edward F. Perkins, a native of Salem, Massachusetts, was a private (from October 4, 1861) and later a quartermaster sergeant in the 3rd Regiment, California Infantry. He died of typhoid fever at age 24 on Sept. 27 (or 28) at Fort Ruby, Nevada Territory.
John Wright Perkins (Aug. 21, 1841-Jab. 16, 1931) graduated from Harvard College in 1865. He was an educator and educational administrator in Salem and Byfield, Massachusetts.
Solon A. Perkins (December 6, 1836-June 3, 1863) was a first lieutenant in the 3rd Regiment, Massachusetts Cavalry.
Austin Phelps (Jan. 7. 1820-Oct. 13, 1890) studied at Hobart College (1833-35) and Amherst College (1835-36) and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1837. He studied at Yale Divinity School (1839-40) and Union Theological Seminary (1840?). He was the Bartlett Professor of Sacred Rhetoric at Andover Theological Seminary from 1848 to 1879 (afterwards emeritus).
Elbert Stothoff Porter (Oct. 23, 1820-Feb. 26, 1888) graduated from the College of New Jersey, (Princeton) in 1839 and from New Brunswick Theological Seminary in 1842. He was the minister of the Dutch Reformed Church in Williamsburg, New York from 1849 to 1883. He was a chaplain in the 47th Regiment, New York State Militia (3 months, 1862) and the 47th Regiment, New York State Militia (30 days, 1863).
Peter Augustus Porter (July 14, 1827-June 3, 1864) graduated from Harvard College in 1845. A member of the New York State Assembly in 1862, he was appointed colonel of the 129th New York State Volunteers on July 7, 1862. This regiment was renamed the 8th Regiment, New York Heavy Artillery, and Porter was appointed colonel. In May 1864, Porter was ordered by Grant to go to Virginia to join the fighting in the south. Porter was killed on June 3, 1864, leading a charge in the Battle of Cold Harbor.
William R. Porter was a first lieutenant in the 11th Regiment, Massachusetts Infantry . He was killed at age 21 in the Second Battle of Manassas (Second Bull Run) on August 29, 1862.
William James Potter (Feb. 1, 1830-Dec. 21, 1893) graduated from Harvard College in 1854 and attended Harvard Divinity School during the 1856/57 academic year. He was drafted on July 23, 1863, and assigned to “visiting and inspecting all the United States hospitals in or near Washington and Alexandria.” He resigned in May 1864 but returned to Washington to work for the Sanitary Commission until August 1864. He served the Unitarian Church in New Bedford from 1859 to 1892.
George Lewis Prentiss (May 12, 1816-Mar. 18, 1903) graduated from Bowdoin College in 1835 and studied theology in the Universities of Halle and Berlin (1839-41). He was the minister of the Presbyterian Church of the Covenant in New York City from 1862 to 1873.
John Williams Proudfit (Sept. 22, 1803-Mar. 9, 1870) graduated from Union College in 1821 and studied at Princeton Theological Seminary (1823-24). He was a professor of Greek and Latin at Rutgers College from 1845 to 1859 and was commissioned as an officer in the U.S. Volunteers Hospital Chaplains Infantry Regiment on June 20, 1862, through Aug. 21, 1865.
George Putnam (Aug. 16, 1807-Apr. 11, 1878) graduated from Harvard College in 1825 and from Harvard Divinity School in 1830. He was the minister of the First Church in Roxbury from 1830 to 1877.
William Lowell Putnam (July 9, 1840-October 22, 1861) was the son of Samuel and Mary Lowell Putnam; the grandson of Rev. Charles Lowell, Unitarian minister of the West Church in Boston from 1806 until his death on January 20, 1861; and the cousin of Charles Russell Lowell, Jr. He was a second lieutenant (from July 22, 1861) in the 20th Regiment, Massachusetts Infantry and was mortally wounded on October 21 at the Battle of Ball’s Bluff.
Alonzo Hall Quint (Mar. 22, 1828-Nov. 4, 1896) graduated from Dartmouth College in 1846 and from Andover Theological Seminary in 1852. He was the minister of the Mather (later Central) Congregational Church in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, from 1853 to 1863 and a chaplain in the 2nd Regiment, Massachusetts Infantry from 1861 to 1864.
George Maxwell Randall (Nov. 23, 1810-Sept. 28, 1873) graduate from Brown in 1835 and from General Theological Seminary in 1838. He was the minister of the Church of the Messiah in Boston from 1844 to 1865.
James Reed (Dec. 8, 1834-May 21, 1921) graduated from Harvard College in 1855. He was ordained to the ministry of the Church of the New Jerusalem in 1860 and served the Boston Society of the New Jerusalem (the Swedenborgian Church on the Hill) as assistant pastor (1860-68) and pastor (1868-1819, afterwards emeritus).
James Sewall Reed (Apr. 3, 1832-Feb. 22, 1864) was born in Milton, Massachusetts,the son of John and Miranda Barker Reed; John Reed was, for many years the sexton of the Milton church. At the age of 17, J. Sewall and his younger brother George left Massachusetts for the California Gold Rush. In 1862, Reed became captain of the “California Hundred,” a group of volunteers, most of them originally from the East Coast, who traveled to Massachusetts by ship to become part of the 2nd Regiment, Massachusetts Cavalry. He was killed while leading a scouting mission in an ambush by John Mosby’s Rangers near Dranesville, Virginia.
Sylvanus Reed (July 13, 1812-Oct. 10, 1870) graduated from General Theological Seminary. He was the rector of the Church of the Innocents in Albrany, New York, from 1850 to 1861?
Adam Reid (Jan. 4, 1808-Nov. 2, 1878) graduated from the University of Glasgow in 1827. He was the minister of the Congregational Church in Salisbury, Connecticut, from 1837 to 1878.
Nathan Lewis Rice (Dec. 29, 1807-June 11, 1877) was the minister of the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church in New York City from 1861 to 1867.
Chandler Robbins (Feb. 14, 1810-Sept. 11, 1882) graduated from Harvard College in 1829 and from Harvard Divinity School in 1833. He was the minister of the Second Church in Boston from 1833 to 1874.
Charles Seymour Robinson (Mar. 31, 1829- Feb. 1, 1899 graduated from Williams College in 1849 and attended Union Theological Seminary (1852-53) and Princeton Theological Seminary (1853-55). He was the minister of the First Presbyterian Church in Brooklyn from 1860 to 1868.
Joel Edson Rockwell (May 4, 1816-July 29, 1882) graduated from Amherst College in 1837 and from Union Theological Seminary in 1841. He was minister of the Central Presbyterian Church in Brooklyn from 1851 to 1868.
Ebenezer Platt Rogers (Dec. 18, 1817-Oct. 22, 1881) graduated from Yale College in 1837 and attended Princeton Theological Seminary in 1837/38. He was the minister of the South Reformed Church in New York City from 1862 to 1861.
Anthony Schuyler (July 8, 1816-Nov. 22, 1900) graduated from Hobart College in 1835. He was the rector of Christ Church in Oswego, New York, from 1852 to 1862.
Norman Seaver (Apr. 23, 1835-Jan. 18, 1915) graduated from Williams College in 1854 and from Andover Theological Seminary in 1860. He was the minister of the Congregational Church in Rutland, Vermont, from 1860 to 1868.
Linus Hall Shaw (Nov. 29, 1804-Jan. 5, 1866) graduated from Harvard Divinity School in 1833. He was the minister of the First Parish (Unitarian) in Sudbury, Massachusetts, from 1845 until his death.
Matthew Simpson (June 2, 1811-June 18, 1884) was elected a Bishop in the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1852 and was elected President of Garrett Theological Seminary in 1859. He was an frequent but informal adviser to Secretary of War Edward M. Stanton during the Civil War, as well as to President Abraham Lincoln. Simpson preached at both of the funerals of Lincoln—in Washignton, D.C., and in Springfield, Illinois.
Thomas Harvey Skinner (Oct. 6, 1820-Jan. 4, 1892) graduated from New York University in 1840 and studied at Union Theological Seminary (1840-42 and 1843) and Andover Theological Seminary (1842-43). He was the minister of the Reformed Dutch Church in Stapleton on Staten Island from 1859 to 1868.
James Renwick Wilson Sloane (May 29, 1833-Mar. 6, 1886) graduated from Jefferson College in 1847 and studied at the theological school of Geneva College (then in Northwood, Ohio). He was the minister of the Third Reformed Presbyterian Church in New York City from 1856 to 1868.
Henry Smith (Dec. 16, 1805-Jan. 14, 1879) graduated from Middlebury College in 1827 and from Andover Theological Seminary in 1833. He was the minister of the North Presbyterian Church in Buffalo, New York, from 1862 to 1864. He had been a professor at Marietta College in Ohio (1833-46) and its second president (1846-55). Before (1855-62) and after (1865-79) his settlement in Buffalo, he was a professor at Lane Theological Seminary.
Henry Boynton Smith (Nov. 21, 1815-Feb. 7, 1877) graduated from Bowdoin College in 1834 and studied at Andover Theological Seminary (1834-35) and at Bangor Theological Seminary (1835-36) and then in Paris, Halle, and Berlin (1837-40). He was Professor of Church History (1850-54) and Professor of Systematic Theology (1854-74) at Union Theological Seminary.
Samuel Thayer Spear (Mar. 4, 1812-Mar. 31, 1891) was the minister of the South Presbyterian Church in Brooklyn from 1843 to 1870.
Gardiner Spring (Feb. 24, 1785-Aug. 18, 1873) graduated from Yale College in 1805 and studied at Andover Theological Seminary from 1809 to 1810). He was the minister of the Brick Presbyterian Church in New York City from 1810 until his death.
Thomas Jefferson Spurr (Feb. 2, 1838-Sept. 27, 1862) graduated from Harvard College in 1858. He was a 1st lieutenant in the 15th Regiment, Massachusetts Infantry and was mortally wounded in the Battle of Antietam.
Nahor Augustus Staples (Aug. 24, 1830-Feb. 5, 1864) graduated from Meadville Theological School in 1854. He was a chaplain in the 6th Regiment, Wisconsin Infantry (July 10-Nov. 5, 1861) and the minister of the Second Unitarian Congregational Society in New York City from 1861 until his death.
Edward Josiah Stearns (Feb. 24, 1810-July 6, 1890) studied at Amherst College (1830-31), graduated from Harvard College in 1833, and studied at Andover Theological Seminary (1835-36). He was the rector of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Centreville, Maryland, from 1862 to 1863.
William Augustus Stearns (Mar. 17, 1805-June 8, 1876) graduated from Harvard College in 1827 and from Andover Theological Seminary in 1831. He was the president of Amherst College from 1854 until his death.
Horatio Stebbins (Aug. 8, 1821-Apr. 8, 1902) graduated from Harvard College in 1848 and from Harvard Divinity School in 1851. He was the minister of the First Unitarian Society in San Francisco from 1864 until his death (emeritus after 1899).
Daniel Steele (Oct. 5, 1824-Sept. 2, 1914) graduated from Wesleyan in 1848. He was the minister of the Union Street Methodist Episcopal Church in Springfield, Massachusetts, from 1860 to 1861. He was Professor of Ancient Languages and Literature at Genesee College in Lima, New York, from 1862 to 1869 (and acting President, 1869-71).
Thomas Hewlings Stockton (June 4, 1808-Oct. 9, 1868) studied at Jefferson Medical College of Philadelphia but became a minister in the Methodist Protestant Church. He was officially appointed Chaplain of the House of Representatives in 1833, 1835, and 1861. From 1856 until his death he was the minister of the non-denominational Church of the New Testament in Philadelphia.
Andrew Leete Stone (Nov. 25, 1815-Jan. 17, 1892) graduated from Yale College in 1837 and studied at Union Theological Seminary (1839-41). He was the minister of the Park Street Congregational Church in Boston from 1849 to 1866.
Owen Street (Sept. 8, 1815-May 27, 1887) graduated from Yale College in 1837 and Yale Divinity School in 1842. He was the minister of the High Street Congregational Church in Lowell from 1857 until his death.
Thomas Street (May 8, 1823-Oct. 16, 1878) was the minister of the Presbyterian Church in York, Pennsylvania, from 1860 to 1864.
William Sprague Studley (May 26, 1823-Feb. 26, 1893) graduated from Wesleyan University in 1850. He was a Harvard Overseer in 1865. He was the minister of the Tremont Street Methodist Episcopal Church in Boston from 1864 to 1865.
Edward William Syle (Feb. 17, 1817-Oct. 5, 1890) graduated from Kenyon College in 1840 and Virginia Theological Seminary in 1844. He was an Episcopal missionary in China (1845-61; 1868-72) and rector of Christ Church in Pelham, New York, from 1864 to early 1868.
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