William Smith Clark (July 31, 1826 – March 9, 1886) was an American professor of chemistry, botany, and zoology; a colonel during the American Civil War; and a leader in agricultural education. Raised and schooled in Easthampton, Massachusetts, Clark spent most of his adult life in Amherst, Massachusetts. He graduated from Amherst College in 1848 and obtained a doctorate in chemistry from Georgia Augusta University in Göttingen in 1852. He then served as professor of chemistry at Amherst College from 1852 to 1867. During the Civil War, he was granted leave from Amherst to serve with the 21st Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, eventually achieving the rank of colonel and the command of that unit.
In 1867, Clark became the third president of the Massachusetts Agricultural College (MAC), now the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He was the first to appoint a faculty and admit a class of students. Although initially successful, MAC was criticized by politicians and newspaper editors who felt it was a waste of funding in a state that was growing increasingly industrial. Farmers of western Massachusetts were slow to support the college. Despite these obstacles, Clark's success in organizing an innovative academic institution earned him international attention.
Japanese officials, striving to achieve rapid modernization of that country in the wake of the Meiji Restoration, were especially intrigued by Clark's work. In 1876, the Japanese government hired Clark as a foreign advisor to establish the Sapporo Agricultural College (SAC), now Hokkaido University. During his eight months in Sapporo, Clark successfully organized SAC, had a significant impact on the scientific and economic development of the island of Hokkaido, and made a lasting imprint on Japanese culture. Clark's visage overlooks Sapporo from several statues and his parting words to his Japanese students, "Boys, be ambitious!" ( ) have become a nationally known motto in Japan.
After resigning the presidency of MAC in 1879, Clark left academia to become the president of a mining company, Clark & Bothwell. The company, in operation from 1881 to 1882, purchased several silver mines, mostly in Utah and California. Clark's partner, John R. Bothwell, proved to be corrupt and the company quickly folded, destroying Clark's reputation, his own finances and the fortunes of many of his friends and family. The subsequent scandal ruined Clark's health. He died of heart disease at his home in Amherst in 1886.
Education and early career Born in Ashfield, Massachusetts, on July 31, 1826, William Smith Clark was the son of a country physician, Atherton Clark, and Harriet Smith Clark. In about 1834, his family moved to Easthampton, Massachusetts. Clark was educated at Williston Seminary (now the Williston Northampton School) in Easthampton, and entered Amherst College in 1844. He earned membership in the prestigious Phi Beta Kappa academic honor society and graduated in the class of 1848. Clark then taught chemistry at Williston Seminary from 1848 to 1850. In 1851, he departed to study chemistry and botany at Georgia Augusta University in Germany, now known as the University of Göttingen, where he earned his Ph.D. in chemistry in 1852.
Later that year, Clark returned to Amherst and accepted a professorship in analytical and applied chemistry at Amherst College. He held that position until 1867. He also served as professor of zoology from 1852 to 1858, and of botany from 1854 to 1858. Shortly after his appointment, Clark began to promote agricultural education, a subject which had attracted his attention during his time in Göttingen. Beginning in 1853, he headed a new Division of Science for the theoretical and practical study of agriculture. The program was not successful, however, and was discontinued in 1857 due to poor enrollment. It became clear to Clark that a new type of institution would be necessary if agricultural education were to be taught effectively. He was a member of the Massachusetts Board of Agriculture from 1859 to 1861 and was the president of the Hampshire Board of Agriculture from 1860 to 1861, and later from 1871 to 1872. He used his position in these organizations to seek support for an agricultural college in Massachusetts.
Family
A few months after returning home from Germany, on May 25, 1853, Clark married Harriet Keopuolani Richards Williston. Harriet Williston was the daughter of Clarissa and William Richards, American missionaries to the Kingdom of Hawaii. In 1838, Harriet and her brother Lyman were sent from Hawaii to be taken in by industrialist Samuel Williston so that they could be schooled at Williston Seminary in Easthampton. William Richards died in 1847 in Hawaii. His wife, Clarissa, survived him, however she remained in Hawaii for some time after her husband's death and it was agreed that Williston should adopt both Harriet and Lyman Richards. Clark's adoptive father-in-law, Samuel Williston, would prove to be an important sponsor to his career. Williston was Amherst College's primary benefactor, and a highly influential figure in western Massachusetts.
William and Harriet Clark had 11 children, only 7 of whom survived to adulthood. Their eldest child and daughter, Emily Williston Clark, married F.W. Stearns, the son of prominent trader and department store owner R.H. Stearns. One of their sons, Hubert Lyman Clark, became a prominent zoologist.
Civil War Clark's academic career was interrupted by the Civil War. An enthusiastic supporter of the Union cause in the war, Clark took part in student military drill instruction at Amherst College and successfully recruited a number of students. In August 1861, he received a commission of major in the 21st Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. He served with the 21st Massachusetts for nearly two years, eventually commanding that regiment as lieutenant colonel in 1862, and colonel from 1862 to 1863.
During its first months of service, the 21st Massachusetts was assigned garrison duty at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. In January 1862, the regiment was attached to the Coast Division commanded by Major General Ambrose Burnside and embarked with the division for operations in North Carolina. Clark was placed in command of the regiment in February 1862 and led it in the Battle of New Bern on March 14, 1862. In that action, Clark garnered a reputation for bravery when the regiment charged a Confederate battery and he straddled an enemy cannon, urging his regiment forward. The gun was the first artillery piece captured by the Union Army during that engagement. It was presented by General Burnside to Amherst College in honor of Lieutenant Frazar Stearns, son of the president of Amherst College and adjutant of the 21st Massachusetts, who was killed in the battle. The cannon was mounted inside Morgan Hall at Amherst College.
After the 21st Massachusetts was transferred to Northern Virginia in July 1862, the regiment eventually became part of the Army of the Potomac and took part in several of the largest battles of the war including Second Bull Run, Antietam, and Fredericksburg. The regiment suffered its worst casualties during the Battle of Chantilly on September 1, 1862. In the confusion of the battle, fought in thick woods during a thunderstorm, Clark became separated from his regiment and wandered the Virginia countryside for four days before finding the army again. While he was missing, he was incorrectly listed as killed in action and an Amherst newspaper printed his obituary under the headline, "Another Hero Gone."
Clark's enthusiasm for the war waned considerably after the Battle of Fredericksburg during which the Union Army suffered severe casualties in repeated charges against a heavily fortified stone wall. In a January 1863 letter to a friend, Clark wrote that, although he still felt "the principles for which we fight are right and honorable," he was "disheartened and dissatisfied" with the government and the army. By April 1863, the numbers of the 21st Massachusetts had been so thinned by what Clark called the "cruel fate of war," that the regiment had virtually ceased to exist and Clark's command was only nominal. He therefore resigned his commission and returned to Massachusetts.
Massachusetts Agricultural College
The movement for an agricultural college in Massachusetts had begun as early as the 1830s, long before Clark became involved. The leaders of the movement included men such as Marshall Wilder, a prosperous Boston merchant and president of the Norfolk Agricultural Society, and Judge Henry Flagg French, who would become the first president of the Massachusetts Agricultural College. Their efforts met with little progress until the passage of the Morrill Land Grant Act in 1862. Sponsored by U.S. Representative Justin Smith Morrill, the act allotted federal land in the West to each state. The proceeds from the sale of this land were to support the establishment of colleges "related to agriculture and the mechanic arts." Massachusetts voted to take advantage of this federal program and established the Massachusetts Agricultural College in April 1863.
Proponents of agricultural education, including Clark, felt that scientific advances were bypassing farmers as a class. Clark lamented that farmers in Massachusetts had little access to higher education and that, consequently, the profession was degenerating economically and intellectually. As Clark wrote,
In the good time coming, the refining, elevating, and strengthening influences of high intellectual and aesthetic culture will be considered as desirable in the agricultural profession as they are in medicine, law or theology ... If practical farmers are to remain ignorant of all the higher branches of learning, and to have only the mental discipline and culture of the country public schools, they can never occupy their proper position in society.Clark, quoted in
The farmer's "proper position in society" was in particular jeopardy in New England, according to leaders of the agricultural education movement. Increasing industrialization caused the population of mill towns to grow exponentially in the mid-19th century at the expense of rural towns, many of which were left all but abandoned, especially in western Massachusetts. Adding to the crisis was the phenomenon of westward movement and the lure of cheap land in the Midwest. The agricultural education movement in Massachusetts, in reaction to this crisis, had highly moralistic tones. Clark criticized those who left New England, writing, "Will a wise man exchange the beautiful and diversified scenery of New England ... Will he forsake the school and churches and the social privileges of prosperous communities for the semi-barbarous condition of newly and sparsely settled districts?"Clark, quoted in Further, Clark warned that if the decay of rural Massachusetts continued, farming would soon be considered, "degrading in its nature, and designed ... only for those poor, stupid, ignorant, or unfortunate persons."Clark, quoted in
Clark resigned his commission in the army one month after the MAC was voted into existence by the Massachusetts Legislature. When he returned to Amherst, he quickly sought involvement in the new institution and worked energetically to convince state authorities to locate the college in Amherst. Rival sites under consideration included Springfield, Lexington, and property owned by Harvard University in Roxbury. Elected to the Massachusetts Legislature in 1864, Clark secured a bond for the Town of Amherst enabling it to contribute $50,000 to the construction of the college buildings. This ultimately swayed the trustees to choose Amherst.