Henry Louis Baugher
Encyclopedia
Henry Louis Baugher was an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Lutheran clergyman and academic. He was President of Gettysburg College
Gettysburg College
Gettysburg College is a private four-year liberal arts college founded in 1832, in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, United States, adjacent to the famous battlefield. Its athletic teams are nicknamed the Bullets. Gettysburg College has about 2,700 students, with roughly equal numbers of men and women...
from 1850 until 1868.
Background
Henry Lewis Baugher was born in Abbottstown, PennsylvaniaAbbottstown, Pennsylvania
Abbottstown is a borough in Adams County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 1011 at the 2010 census.-History:Abbottstown is named for John Abbott, who founded it in 1753.In 1950 Abbottstown had a population of 538.-Geography:...
to Christian Frederick and Ann Catharine Matter Baugher. His father was a tanner by trade and his paternal grandfather, John George Bager, was a pioneer German Lutheran pastor west of Pennsylvania’s Susquehanna River
Susquehanna River
The Susquehanna River is a river located in the northeastern United States. At long, it is the longest river on the American east coast that drains into the Atlantic Ocean, and with its watershed it is the 16th largest river in the United States, and the longest river in the continental United...
. As a youth, Henry was educated by the Reverend David McConaughy
David McConaughy
David McConaughy was a noted attorney, cemetery president, and civic leader in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, as well as a part-time intelligence officer for the Union Army during the American Civil War. He was a driving force behind the creation of the Gettysburg National Cemetery following the Battle...
of Gettysburg.
Baugher entered Dickinson College
Dickinson College
Dickinson College is a private, residential liberal arts college in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Originally established as a Grammar School in 1773, Dickinson was chartered September 9, 1783, five days after the signing of the Treaty of Paris, making it the first college to be founded in the newly...
in 1822 and was admitted to the Belles Lettres Literary Society that same year. He graduated as part of the nineteen-member Class of 1826, of which only nine earned a diploma. At the commencement ceremony, Baugher, who received secondary honors, gave the Latin Salutatory Address.
After graduating from Dickinson, Baugher made arrangements to study law under Francis Scott Key
Francis Scott Key
Francis Scott Key was an American lawyer, author, and amateur poet, from Georgetown, who wrote the lyrics to the United States' national anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner".-Life:...
, in Georgetown
Georgetown, Washington, D.C.
Georgetown is a neighborhood located in northwest Washington, D.C., situated along the Potomac River. Founded in 1751, the port of Georgetown predated the establishment of the federal district and the City of Washington by 40 years...
. After his mother's death, Baugher changed plans and entered the Princeton Theological Seminary
Princeton Theological Seminary
Princeton Theological Seminary is a theological seminary of the Presbyterian Church located in the Borough of Princeton, New Jersey in the United States...
in 1826. He studied there until 1828, when he transferred to the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg
Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg
The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg is America's oldest Lutheran seminary and a site of 1863 Battle of Gettysburg military engagements.-History:...
where he stayed for one year and was licensed as a minister. In 1829, Baugher was married to Clara (Clarissa) Mary Brooks.
Career
In 1831, Baugher became a teacher of classical studies at the Gettysburg Gymnasium, which was then under the Seminary. The Gymnasium became Pennsylvania College (now Gettysburg CollegeGettysburg College
Gettysburg College is a private four-year liberal arts college founded in 1832, in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, United States, adjacent to the famous battlefield. Its athletic teams are nicknamed the Bullets. Gettysburg College has about 2,700 students, with roughly equal numbers of men and women...
) in 1832. Baugher was selected as professor of Greek and the Belles Lettres. He served in this position for 18 years, and also served as the Secretary for the Faculty of the College. He was ordained a Lutheran pastor in 1833. His brother, Isaac, became a College trustee in 1844 and gave the College its first bequest.
In 1848, Henry Baugher received an honorary doctorate of divinity from his alma mater. After College President Charles P. Krauth resigned his position in 1850, the Board of Trustees unanimously voted Baugher the second president of Pennsylvania College and later decided to build a home for him and his family. After initially rejecting the position, he accepted and assumed his duties in October of the same year, not to relinquish them until his death in 1868.
Baugher’s presidency was noted by his stern disciplinary practices and high standards. According to E.S. Breidenbaugh, Baugher believed “that reverence for superiors, submission to authority, and obedience to the rules and regulations of the College were indispensable to the formation of a good character, he inculcated and enforced the duty of loyalty both by counsel and authority . . . [and] he was proficient in detecting those guilty of misdemeanors and violations of the college laws.” According to Samuel Gring Hefelbower, Baugher’s severity was “tempered with Christian love.”
On November 19, 1863, Henry Baugher gave the benediction at the ceremony opening the National Soldiers’ Cemetery at Gettysburg
Gettysburg National Cemetery
The Gettysburg National Cemetery is located on Cemetery Hill in the Gettysburg Battlefield near the borough of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania and adjacent to Evergreen Cemetery to the south...
; speaking after Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
’s famous Gettysburg Address
Gettysburg Address
The Gettysburg Address is a speech by U.S. President Abraham Lincoln and is one of the most well-known speeches in United States history. It was delivered by Lincoln during the American Civil War, on the afternoon of Thursday, November 19, 1863, at the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery...
. Henry Baugher died just shy of his 64th birthday. He had been suffering from an unknown disease for several years, caught a cold, and died ten days later. He is buried in the Evergreen Cemetery in Gettysburg, along with his wife.