Title

Class of 1861 Portrait

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Class of 1861 Portrait
Class of 1861 Portrait
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Subjects: Students
Description: A portrait of the class of 1861. This was the first class of students to graduate from Michigan Agricultural College.

Students are:
Top (L-R): L.V. Beebe; Gilbert Dickey; A. Bayley
Front (L-R): Henry Benham; A.N. Prentiss; A.F. Allen; C.E. Hollister

Commencement was scheduled for November 1861, but was not to be. The entire graduating class of seven seniors was excused from school in September 1861 in order to join the Union Army. This marked the first time members of the campus community stepped up to help our nation at a time of crisis.

Two of the graduates died in service: Gilbert A. Dickey was killed on the first day of the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863 and Henry D. Benham died at Beaufort, South Carolina in the summer of 1864.
Date: 1861
Format: Image/jpg
Original Format: Black and white photograph
Resource Identifier: A000507.jpg
Language: English
Rights Management: Educational use only, no other permissions given. Copyright to this resource is held by Michigan State University and is provided here for educational purposes only. It may not be reproduced or distributed in any format without written permission of the University Archives & Historical Collections, Michigan State University.
Contributing Institution: University Archives & Historical Collections
Relation: MSU Photograph Collection
Contributor: MSU Archives and Historical Collections
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