{"id":2693,"date":"2015-11-25T14:53:22","date_gmt":"2015-11-25T14:53:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/fyi\/?p=2693"},"modified":"2015-11-25T14:53:22","modified_gmt":"2015-11-25T14:53:22","slug":"the-spirit-of-caleb-mills","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/fyi\/2015\/11\/25\/the-spirit-of-caleb-mills\/","title":{"rendered":"The Spirit of Caleb Mills"},"content":{"rendered":"

Richard Paige<\/em> — His name weaves through our history all the way back to the moment where the original trustees knelt in the snow and founded this institution. The tradition we hold most dear \u2013 the bell that rings students in on Freshman Saturday and out on Commencement \u2013 had its beginnings with him. He, of course, is Caleb Mills.<\/p>\n

For many, Mills simply is the name we attach to the spirit that flows through this place. How are we to know our first professor, a man who last taught in 1876 and passed away in 1879? Who can bring that spirit to life?<\/p>\n

Chuck Beemer can. A lawyer, noted Civil War scholar, and the author of two books, Beemer is also Caleb Mills\u2019 great-great grandson.<\/p>\n

Beemer was born in Montgomery County and graduated from Crawfordsville High School in 1958. He earned his undergraduate degree from Colorado College, has a master\u2019s from Wisconsin, and a law degree from North Carolina.<\/p>\n

\"Chuck<\/a>
Chuck Beemer, the great-great grandson of Caleb Mills.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While on campus recently to discuss his latest book, \u201cMy Greatest Quarrel with Fortune: Major General Lew Wallace in the West, 1861\u20131862\u201d, I sat down with him to talk about his legacy, his great-great grandfather, and coming home.<\/p>\n

Are you more aware of your great-great grandfather when you come back to campus?
\n<\/strong><\/em>To be honest, I feel a sense of that while I\u2019m on campus, but I feel a sense of it quite often. Mom (Julia Beemer) felt a very close kinship to Caleb Mills. She obviously didn\u2019t know him, but I\u2019ve heard the name Caleb Mills since I was yeah-high to a Fig Newton. I remember real early on that I was asked to make a presentation to the local grade school PTA meeting. Dad insisted that I say something about being the great-great grandson of Caleb Mills. It really bothered me to do it. Frankly, it sounded like I was bragging or trying to achieve a special status. The audience responded to it almost like it was an everyday commonplace thing. I think the name Caleb Mills is a very well-known name in Crawfordsville.<\/p>\n

How much do you know of Dr. Mills and his accomplishments?<\/strong><\/em>
\nI\u2019m very proud of the fact that he was the first professor here. Dad always used to talk about how they came across the mountains and knelt in the snow. So that image has been with me for a long, long time. I\u2019m proud of the fact that he was superintendent of education, and I read someplace that he did so much to advance the cause of free public education that he became known as the Father of the Free Public School System in Indiana. That\u2019s always meant quite a bit to me.<\/p>\n

How much did his influence have on you becoming a Civil War historian or lawyer?
\n<\/strong><\/em>I\u2019m not sure of any per se, more like an atmosphere. It was absolutely expected that my older brother and I would go to college. I desperately wanted to come to Wabash, but dad felt that getting away from home was an integral part of the educational process. He really kiboshed the idea; certainly nothing to do with Wabash, he recognized it as a great school. I\u2019ve always been a fun loving guy and simultaneously somebody who has a strong sense of the need for education both in your personal and professional life. I think it was kind of an unspoken, unidentifiable, pervasive type of influence.<\/p>\n

What do you know of him as a person?
\n<\/strong><\/em>I have read a lot of his (Caleb\u2019s) letters to his son when Benjamin Marshall was in command of a company of black U.S. troops during the Occupation of Vicksburg in 1864. (He was a) Terribly, terribly, terribly strict disciplinarian, even with his son\u2026very formal. There is no evidence of pleasantries. Very straight forward. Benjamin Marshall is quite like him in return letters, but you can see a little emotionalism creep in. As much as I revere and respect Caleb Mills, I don\u2019t think I would have liked for him to have been my father. (laughs loudly) It would not have been easy.<\/p>\n

Did those letters help to humanize him for you?
\n<\/strong><\/em>Absolutely. I have a great deal of respect and admiration for him as a man, even more so for what he accomplished. I would love to go back in time and sit and talk to him for however long. I don\u2019t know how he\u2019d relate to the PGA Tour or NBA basketball, but he must have been a man of immense character and I could tell he was a man of immense persuasion.<\/p>\n

Does the campus still feel like home for you?
\n<\/strong><\/em>Still does. It never changes. Crawfordsville doesn\u2019t change much either. It had been 40 years since I\u2019d left, and I was struck by how much had not changed. The people of Crawfordsville have always been very warm and friendly. My relationship with the college has always been quite, quite solid. I follow the football and basketball teams closely. I did not go to Wabash, but I can assure you that Wabash is and will always be a strong part of me. I\u2019m extremely pleased whenever I read something about Wabash because it\u2019s always good news.<\/p>\n

How meaningful is it to you that Caleb Mills, and his bell and mace, are still central to who we are?
\n<\/strong><\/em>When we got the Wabash Magazine<\/em><\/a> a month or so ago, one of the first pictures at commencement had the faculty marshal carrying the cane. I showed it to (his wife) Nancy and said, \u201cYour great-great grandfather-in-law is in that picture.\u201d All she sees are guys in caps and gowns. She asked, \u201cWhat are you talking about?\u201d I said, \u201cHe\u2019s right there in front. There is his cane. The spirit of Caleb Mills is in that picture.\u201d Things like that mean a lot to me. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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