Administrative Information

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Preferred Citation

William E. Arnold Notebook, mss 00018, Virginia Military Institute Archives, Lexington, Virginia.

Biographical/Historical Information

William Elisha Arnold was born June 14, 1840 in Franklin County, Virginia. He was the son of James Arnold and Julia Barrow. Arnold enrolled in the Virginia Military Institute in July 1849 and graduated in July 1853. Shortly after graduation, he married Susan Meriweather Taliaferro of Amherst County, Virginia. The couple had five children--William, Julia, James, Frederic, and Kate. Arnold taught school in Amherst County, and in 1859 began teaching math and tactics at the Lafayette Military Institute at Lexington, Missouri.

During the Civil War Arnold served briefly in the Missouri State Guard and in an artillery unit before passing his medical exams. After November 1862, he was a medical officer assigned to various commands.

After the war, Arnold practiced medicine in Springfield, Missouri. He died there on August 18, 1902.

Scope and Content Information

The collection consists of a poetry notebook compiled by William Elisha Arnold during the period 1849-1864; the bulk of the entries date from the years in which he was a student at the Virginia Military Institute, 1849-1853. Such notebooks were popular among VMI cadets of the mid-19th century and typically contain both original and copied verse. The Arnold notebook contains approximately 50 poems by Arnold, other cadets, various 19th century poets, and anonymous authors. Cadet poetry includes The Regulations by Charles Denby (VMI Class of 1850), and The Six Plebes on Leaving for Richmond by Thomas O. Benton (VMI Class of 1850). A few poems were composed by Arnold during the Civil War. The notebook also includes miscellany such as clippings, puzzles, and riddles.