George Templeton Strong
George Templeton Strong | |
|---|---|
Columbia College | |
| Occupation | Lawyer |
| Notable work | The Diary of George Templeton Strong |
George Templeton Strong (January 26, 1820 – July 21, 1875) was an American lawyer, musician and diarist. His 2,250-page diary, discovered in the 1930s, provides a striking personal account of life in the 19th century, especially during the events of the
Mary Chesnut: quotable, opinionated, and a careful follower of events." He was a well-placed civic leader who was very well known in New York City. He served with distinction on the United States Sanitary Commission during the Civil War, but never occupied any significant civic positions and had no special influence.[1]
Life and career
Strong was born at 50 Franklin Street, New York City, on January 26, 1820.[2][3] He lived to write intimately of the turbulent years leading up to and through the American Civil War, as well as the corrupt and turbulent years in New York following the war.
Strong received his early education from
New York Philharmonic Society for several years. Their son, also named George Templeton Strong (1856–1948), became a noted Romantic composer
and painter. Estranged from his father at an early age, the younger Strong moved to Switzerland in the late nineteenth century and did most of his work while living in Europe, but he is nevertheless generally considered to be an American artist.
In 1853, Strong was elected a trustee of Columbia College. He served for many years as a
Union League Club of New York, an organization which pledged to "cultivate a profound national devotion." The organization provided a means to reconciling the whites and blacks of the South into the Republican Party. Strong funded a Union Army
regiment during the war, and Ellen Strong served on a hospital ship. He avoided military service by taking advantage of that section of the Enrollment Act of 1863 allowing draftees to pay $300 to a substitute who served for them. This amount, a healthy sum in 1863, did not long remain the norm, for George Templeton Strong, pluckier than many of his contemporaries, paid a "big 'Dutch' boy of about twenty" $1,100 to be his "alter ego" in 1864.
Strong's 2,250-page diary, now in the collections of the
. Extensive selections from the diary were published in four volumes in 1952, and remain of interest to historians of New York City, as well as to bibliographic collectors.References
- ^ Daniel Aaron, "The Greatest Diarist" American Heritage (March 1988), Vol. 39 Issue 2, pp 94-101.
- ^ Strong, George Templeton (1952). Nevins, Allan; Thomas, Milton Halsey (eds.). The Diary of George Templeton Strong. Vol. I. New York: Macmillan Company. p. 157.
- ^ a b Daniel Aaron (March 1988). "The Greatest Diarist". American Heritage Magazine. 39 (2).
Further reading
- Aaron, Daniel. "The Greatest Diarist" American Heritage (March 1988), Vol. 39 Issue 2, pp 94–101. online
- Brodsky Lawrence, Vera. Strong on Music (3 vols.) Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995, 1999.
- Schafer, Judith K. "George Templeton Strong" American National Biography (1999) online
Primary sources
External links
- Guide to the Strong Family Papers, 1747–1940
- John C. Willis, "George Templeton Strong", America's Civil War: History 393, University of the South- Sewanee
- Mr. Lincoln and New York
- Infography about George Templeton Strong
- PDF versions of Strong's Diaries. Public Domain.
- Civil War Draft Records: Exemptions and Enrollments
