The Dickinson College Class of 1860, represented here in a Google Map, left the College just before the declaration of and start to the Civil War. By noting the birthplace and short biography of individual graduates of the Class of 1860, this map provides an important introduction to the manner with which graduates responded to the impending conflict and the inability to determine its duration or consequences. Members of the class hailed from both sides of the Mason-Dixon Line; eleven were born in Free States and thirteen in Slave States. Nonetheless, their individual lives after graduation and during the war differed in distinct ways irrespective of their birthplace. Those that did enlist in the military served, and in some cases perished, on both sides of the battlefield. Some, like Seth Hartman Yocum, took an active interest in the war and enlisted as a sergeant in Pennsylvania within a year of graduation. William T. Kinzer proved an exceptional member of the Class of 1860 who, due to financial trouble, left Dickinson without graduating. He enlisted in the Confederate army at the start of the war and served through to the Battle of Spotsylvania, during which Union soldiers captured him. He died in prison one month later. Granted, the war did not affect every graduate’s life after graduation, as many graduated and went on to become teachers, attorneys, and members of the clergy. This resource supplements other maps and virtual tours that help provide a visual of local events and locations before, during, and after the Civil War.
