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The Charles P. McIlvaine letters were written in the 18th and 19th century and therefore may contain language that we understand today as harmful or offensive. You may encounter paternalist descriptions of Native Americans, racial slurs, or sexism. For more information, see our policy page.
Description
Requests a letter of recommendation from McIlvaine
Date
6-23-1862
Keywords
letter, Hodge, McIlvaine
Recommended Citation
Hodge, Charles, "Letter to Charles Petit McIlvaine" (1862). Charles Pettit McIlvaine Letters. 212.
https://digital.kenyon.edu/mcilvaine_letters/212
Rights Statement
Transcript
Scrapbook p. 56
Rev. Charles Hodge to Bishop C. P. McIlvaine
Princeton, June 23rd, 1862
My dear Charles,
The newspapers inform me of your return from Europe & presence in Washington. I write to you for a selfish object. I want to avail myself of your influence with the Government. The only favor I have ever asked of men in our ministry is the appointment of my son John Bayard Hodge as Second Lieutenant of infantry in the U.S. Army. I ground this request not so much in the fact that he is competent for the duties of such a position - being 27 years old, of sound constitution, exemplary moral & Christian character, of great integrity & honorable feeling 0 but, I admit mainly on the fact that I have done what I could to serve my country not only as a minister & professor for forty years but as an ___ of the Princeton Review, the oldest & widest quartly Review in the Country (the North America excepted). I have strenuously advocated on all of the great questions of the day sound, conservative, patriotic views. Some of the articles from my pen have been reprinted in various forms & circulated to the extent of fifty, and in some cases a hundred thousand copies. Seeing that newspaper editors & politicians of every grade succeed in their applications for office I have felt chagrined that my request for the lowest of military commissions should be disregarded. I have been the most surprised at this seeing that my request was backed not by the mere formal endorsement, but by the zealous advocacy of Gov. Ogden, Hon. [?] Pennington & Ten Eyck & Representatives Nixon & Stratton all of this state, besides other influential gentlemen. My son is now a second lieutenant of the 10th New Jersey Regiment stationed at Washington, W. R. Murphy being Colonel.
Know that you have free access to the secretaries & president & knowing that you have their full confidence, I venture to ask that you would use your influence to secure the object I have in view. I do this the more freely because I am convinced that doing a like service for you would give me the sincerest pleasure.
I wrote to you on this subject several months ago but my letter did not reach Washington until after you left that city on your way to Europe.
Affectionately your friend,
Charles Hodge
Charles McIlvaine, D.D.
Notes: Charles Hodge A.M., D.D., LL.D. was a member of the Class of 1815 at Princeton and McIlvaine of the Class of 1816. William Pennington’s class there was 1813. As was Hodge, he was a Princeton Trustee. An ex Governor of New Jersey, he was Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives when he died in 1862.