A
Brief Biographical Sketch
David & Rachel Caldwell
David Caldwell's Academy
A
Brief Biographical Sketch
Below
is a biographical sketch of Rev. Dr. Caldwell as written by Mrs. Ethel
Stephens Arnett in 1974. Mrs. Arnett also published a biography of
Rev. Dr. Caldwell in 1974.
Born
in 1725, David Caldwell was the son of Andrew and Martha Caldwell,
respectable farmers of Pennsylvania. During his early teens, David's
father apprenticed him to a house carpenter and he worked at that
trade until his twenty-fifth year. At that time he felt impressed
to become a Presbyterian minister and in the preparation for that
calling he attended a classical school, taught school himself, graduated
in 1761 from the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University),
and then continued to study and serve in various religious activities.
Altogether he spent over fourteen years in training for the scholar,
minister, and general leader he hoped to become. In 1765, Buffalo
and Alamance Presbyterian churches of Piedmont North Carolina invited
Caldwell to become their pastor and he was appointed by the Synod
"to labor at least one whole year as a missionary in North Carolina."
In that year the Presbytery of New Brunswick ordained him and in
1766 he and his bride, Rachel Craighead, settled permanently in
the area which is now within the city limits of Greensboro. Although
he was not officially installed as the pastor of Buffalo and Alamance
churches until 1768, he had in 1767 opened for young men a classical
school which soon became famous. Thus in his early forties, he was
just beginning his life's work.
From
the time David Caldwell entered into his new life, he said his supreme
desire was to become useful in bringing others to a knowledge of
the truth. As a pastor, he was so successful that Buffalo and Alamance
churches have continued in religious leadership for over two hundred
years. In his school, he had students from all of the states south
of the Potomac. Many of them became prominent as statesmen, lawyers,
judges, physicians, and ministers of the Gospel. Five of his students
became governors of different states [including John Motley Morehead
of North Carolina] while many more became members of Congress. In
1789 the University of North Carolina was chartered as the first
state university in the nation and David Caldwell was offered the
presidency of that institution, because "beyond a doubt he was recognized
as the leading educator in the state." Although he declined this
invitation on account of his age [he was 64], the officials of the
University did not overlook his ability and in 1810 they awarded
him the institution's first honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity.
Though widely regarded as an able scholar, it is recorded that the
most important service which he rendered as an instructor was to
the church, because his school served for many years as an Academy,
a College, and a Theological Seminary.
It
had been said that "Dr. Caldwell, as a teacher, was probably more
useful to the church than any one man in the United States."
Furthermore,
as the years passed, this worthy gentleman had become an exemplary
family man; a practicing physician, who after the Battle of Guilford
Courthouse attended the sick and wounded soldiers of both the British
and American armies; a successful farmer; and an able statesman
who served on local, state, and national conferences. In 1768-1771
he took an active part in the Regulation movement. In 1776 he helped
to write the constitution of the State of North Carolina. During
the American Revolutionary War, he literally preached for support
of the American cause. In 1788 he served on the North Carolina committee
for considering the adoption of the United States Constitution.
He did not favor its adoption at that time because it did not then
include the Bill of Rights for which Caldwell was contending. In
support of the War of 1812 he made such a moving patriotic speech
at the Greensboro Courthouse in favor of men enlisting for army
duty that there were more volunteers than needed.
During
the early life of this country, Dr. David Caldwell was undoubtedly
one of the New World leaders who promoted American freedom, which
gave this nation the liberty it has long enjoyed.
~
Ethel Stephens Arnett ~
David
& Rachel Caldwell
(Text
duplicates signage at the David Caldwell Historic Park.)
David
Caldwell (1725-1824) was a Presbyterian minister, a self-trained physician,
and an early educator in colonial North Carolina. Caldwell was born
in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and served as a carpenter's apprentice
and journeyman before he underwent a religious conversion at age 25.
He began his theological studies under Reverend Robert Smith at Pequea
Academy in Pennsylvania, then enrolled in the College of New Jersey
(now Princeton), where he graduated in 1761. Caldwell was ordained
a Presbyterian minister on July 6, 1765 and was soon sent as a missionary
to North Carolina.
In 1766,
David Caldwell was called to serve as a minister to two Presbyterian
churches, Alamance and Buffalo, in what was to become Guilford County.
One year later, he opened his academy near Buffalo Church. In 1768,
Caldwell was installed as pastor at Buffalo and Alamance.
In 1765,
David married Rachel Craighead in North Carolina. An acquaintance
from Pennsylvania, Rachel (1742-1825) was the daughter of the prominent
Mecklenberg County, North Carolina Presbyterian minister Alexander
Craighead, whose religious and civil protests had gotten him expelled
from Pennsylvania and Virginia.
Mrs.
Caldwell had a reputation as a devout and pious woman who served as
a tutor and assistant to her husband at the school. Rachel was intimately
involved in the education of students at the school. David Caldwell's
friend and biographer, Reverend Eli. W. Caruthers stated, "Dr. Caldwell
made the scholars, but Mrs. Caldwell made the preachers."
David
Caldwell's influence in North Carolina's development was profound.
He attempted to negotiate a peace between the rebellious backcountry
farmers and the Colonial Government during the War of the Regulation
in 1771.
Caldwell
also served as one of five Guilford County delegates in the fifth
Provincial Congress of 1776. The five delegates were all members of
Buffalo Church. North Carolina's first constitution was adopted at
that Provincial Congress of 1776. Caldwell successfully organized
the adoption of a very restrictive religious test for holding elective
offices in North Carolina.
Throughout
the American Revolution, Caldwell was a vocal supporter of the patriot
cause. As a result, he was hunted by British troops during the 1781
campaign in North Carolina that culminated in the Battle of Guilford
Courthouse. Rachel put up strong resistance to British attempts to
capture her husband and sack her home in 1781. One story tells of
her wrestling away a tablecloth from a British soldier. Following
the Battle of Guilford Courthouse, the Caldwells worked tirelessly
treating the wounded soldiers of General Nathanael Greene's army.
After the war, Caldwell voted against ratification in the Convention
that rejected the federal constitution.
Caldwell
retired from Buffalo and Alamance Churches in 1820 and continued to
educate students until his death in 1824. Rachel Caldwell died in
1825, only ten months after her husband.
David
Caldwell's Academy
(Text
duplicates signage at the David Caldwell Historic Park.)
Dr. David
Caldwell opened an academy in 1767 in an effort to educate the young
men of the Carolina backcountry. The "Log College" was a Presbyterian
educational institution from Pennsylvania, and Dr. Caldwell's academy
followed the same teaching practices. The curriculum at Caldwell's
academy was highly individualized to each student. However, because
no records of the school survive, specific details about the school's
physical or curricular structure are not known.
Caldwell's
school was initially housed in his own home, and it remained there
until after the American Revolution. In the 1780s, David built a new
house for his growing family. Rachel and David had nine children,
eight boys and one girl. The old house continued to serve as his school.
Academy
students boarded with families in the surrounding area. Caldwell and
the community could have likely housed twelve to twenty students at
one time. His wife Rachel, their sons and other advanced students
would often serve as tutors; some of the student-tutors would occasionally
board with the Caldwells. Rachel was as profound an influence of the
students as her husband, particularly on their spiritual education.
Sketch
of how a typical
student
might have looked.
Caldwell's
biographer, E.W. Caruthers said the school "attained the finest reputation
of any south of the Potomac River." Students came from all over North
Carolina and the South. Some students could afford to stay in the
area for several years and receive advanced instruction beyond the
basic skills of reading, writing, and arithmetic. They would study
mathematics and mechanical science, metaphysics, Latin, Greek, Hebrew,
and the Bible. Several went on to Princeton and the University of
North Carolina.
Other
students would visit the school for a few days, turn in previous assignments,
receive some instruction in new lessons, and then return home where
they would complete their new assignments. They would return to the
school when they could to turn in these assignments and pick up new
ones. Usually these students were only able to receive basic instruction
over a long period of time.
Caldwell's
school was the model of the typical eighteenth century academy in
North Carolina. His institute was one of the first in the colony and
many of his pupils went on to found schools of their own. Caldwell
continued actively running his school until 1807, when his son John
Washington Caldwell succeeded him as head of the academy. His eldest
son, Samuel Craighead Caldwell, established a school in Iredell County,
North Carolina.
Even
after retiring as schoolmaster, David Caldwell occasionally took students
under his personal supervision. In 1811, he began tutoring future
North Carolina Governor John Motley Morehead. Many of Caldwell's students
went on to become ministers, physicians, and politicians who had great
influence on the growth and development of North Carolina.
