Holmes

his verse and prose, is frankly universal in in-
terest

This hymn, with a number of others in his
Collected Works, speaks for the place which, for
all his rebellion against the Calvinism of his
youth, he gave to religion in his life and his
thought. "There is a little plant called Rever-
ence in the corner of rny Soul's garden," he once
wrote to Elizabeth Stuart Phelps, "which I love
to have watered about once a week" (Ibid., II,
257). This watering habitually took place in
King's Chapel, Boston, where the congenial doc-
trines of Unitarianism were presented to him in
an equally congenial setting of Bostonian and
Anglican tradition. The tablet to his memory
on a wall of that church has already been men-
tioned. The greater part of its text provides the
summary of a truthful epitaph. "In his conver-
sation and writings shone keen insight, wit, de-
votion to truth, love of home, friends, and coun-
try, and a cheerful philosophy. A true son of
New England, his works declare their birthplace
and their times, but their influence far transcends
these limits." Surmounting the tablet are per-
haps the most inclusively descriptive words of
all: "Miscuit Utile Duld." Of all the great New
England group of writers to which Holmes be-
longed he was the last survivor. Hawthorne,
Emerson, Lowell, Motley, Longfellow, Whittier,
all had gone before. At his house in Boston,
Holmes died on Oct. 7, 1894, less than two
months after his eighty-fifth birthday.

[J. T. Morse, Jr., Life and Letters of Oliver Wendell
Holmes (2 vols., 1896), is the authoritative biography,
containing many letters and autobiographical records
not to be found elsewhere. In the Correspondence of
John Lothrop Motley (1889), ed. by G. W. Curtis, let-
ters of Holmes are included. He figures largely in the
biographies of his contemporaries among men and wo-
men of letters, also in the many historical and critical
writings about his period; see e.g., W. D. Howells, Lit-
erary Friends and Acquaintance (1900) ; Annie Fields,
Authors and Friends (1896); Barrett Wendell, Lit.
Hist, of America (1900) ; E. W. Emerson, Early Years
of the Saturday Club (1918). A Bibliog. of Oliver
Wendell Holmes (1907), compiled by G, B, Ives, is an
invaluable guide to a« study of his works.]

M.A.DeW.H.

HOLMES, THEOPHILUS HUNTER

(Nor. 13, i8o4-June 21,1880), Confederate sol-
dier, was born in Sampson County, N. C, the
son of Gov. Gabriel H. and Mary (Hunter)
Holmes. Having graduated at the United States
Military Academy in 1829, he served on the
Southwest frontier, in the Serninole campaign,
and in the occupation of Texas. For gallantry
at Monterey in the Mexican War he was brevet-
ted major. In 1841 he had married Laura Wet-
more, niece of George E. Badger [#.«.]. From
1850 to 1859 he was on garrison duty and from
1859 to 1861, in command of the recruiting sta-

Holsejf

tion on Governors Island, N. Y. Resignii
Apr. 22, 1861, he returned to North Carolir.
where he assisted the governor in the organiz
tion of the state's forces for the coming war ai
received command of the southern department
coast defense. On June 5, 1861, President Davj
his classmate at the Military Academy and h
intimate friend, appointed him brigadier-gener
in the Confederate army and transferred him 1
Virginia, where he commanded a reserve br
gade under Beauregard at Bull Run. Davis soc
made him major-general and in the fall of i8£
sent him back to eastern North Carolina, whei
the state built up a division for him. His servic
here is described as "capable" (Hill, post, \
303) ; but called back to active service, at Mai
vern Hill he " 'allowed the day to pass and th
battle to be decided in his hearing' without doin:
more than forming his men in line of battle
(Ibid., II, 159). Since eastern North Carolin;
now required a more vigorous and effective de
fender, President Davis put him in command o
the trans-Mississippi department and on Oct. ic
1862, made him lieutenant-general. Holmes a
first declined the promotion, but under the urg-
ing of Davis at length accepted (Wheeler, post
p. 411). Oppressed with his responsibility, how-
ever, he begged Davis to relieve him, and in con-
sequence he was made subordinate to Edmund
Kirby-Smith. In this capacity he led a gallant
though ineffective attack on Helena, July 3, 1863,
Complaints of his inefficiency and of his jealousy
of Gen. Sterling Price continued to come in, and
in 1864 he was relieved and returned to North
Carolina where he was in charge of the reserves
until the close of the war. Here, in Cumberland
County, he lived out his days. In 1879 L. B.
Northrop \_q.v.~\ wrote Davis of a "charming and
fresh" letter which he had just received from
"the old paladin" in which he said: " 'As for Jef-
ferson Davis I look upon him as the great sacri-
fice of the age, his and not Lee's name should fill
the hearts of the Southern people . . „'" (Row-
land, post, VIII, 402). The Raleigh Observer,
June 22, 1880, editorially described him as "sim-
ple in his tastes, brave, true, and just in his de-
portment ... a splendid example of an unpre-
tentious North Carolina patriot and gentleman/'
[J. H. Wheeler, Reminiscences and Memoirs of Emi-
nent North Carolinians (1884) ; D. H. Hill, Bethel to
Sharpsburg (2 vols., 1926) ; Dunbar Rowland, Jeffer-
son Davis, Constitutionalist, His Letters, Papers, and
Speeches (10 vols., 1923).] C.GP.

HOLSEY, LUCIUS HENRY (c.

3, 1920), bishop of the Colored Methodist Epis-
copal Church, was born near Columbus, Ga. His
mother, Louisa, a woman of African descent and
strong personality, was the slave of James Hol-

176