Ewell Hall houses the Music Department, the Music Library, and the Arts & Sciences offices. Originally named Phi Beta Kappa Hall, the building burned down in 1953 and was renamed in 1957.

The financial burdens of the Civil War forced the College of William & Mary to close from 1881 until 1888. On every morning of those seven years, President Ewell rang the Wren bell in an effort to keep the spirit of education alive. This continuous act cemented Ewell’s legacy as the beloved and resilient sixteenth president of the College. In this sense, the influence of the Civil War resides at the core of Ewell’s identity. Crucially, however, his ties to the war are twofold—in addition to fighting for the College’s survival, he fought for the South’s continued secession.

The grandson of the first U.S. Navy Secretary Benjamin Stoddert, Benjamin Stoddert Ewell was born in 1810. Following in his grandfather’s footsteps, military service defined Ewell’s education and career. He graduated from West Point in 1832 and went on to become a professor of both military science and mathematics, but it wasn’t until 1861 that he took on a formal position as a colonel in the Confederate Army. Although initially opposed to secession, Ewell impressed enslaved Virginians into his forces. In 1862, he asked former William & Mary faculty member Edward S. Joynes to urge Secretary of War Judah P. Benjamin to send 1,500 enslaved men to Williamsburg from the surrounding counties. That same year, Ewell established the Williamsburg line of Confederate defense across the Virginia Peninsula. Later in the war, he served alongside his brother, Richard Ewell, a senior officer under Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson.

After the war, Ewell distanced himself from separatist sentiment and forged a new reputation defined by a deep reverence for both education and the nation at large. He spent the latter half of his long tenure seeking funds from both state and federal legislatures to restore the College to its former stature. In addition, Ewell used own money to keep the institution’s rattled doors open. His successful efforts earned him widespread and lasting esteem, but the source of his wealth is more controversial.

Long before the College dubbed its music department Ewell Hall in 1957, the Ewell family called their plantation by the same name. At the original Ewell Hall, a handful of slaves worked both on the small farm, in the household, and alongside the president in his daily duties. After the war, the family maintained their staff as paid servants. Although there are no records that attest to the exact number, there is no question that Ewell owned Black bodies up until the Civil War and continued to profit off of their labor after their emancipation.

Despite his prominence as a slave owner and leadership in the Confederate Army, Ewell asserted his loyalty to the Union in the war’s wake. As such, he expressed anti-Confederate views in his efforts to acquire funds to reopen the College. In a letter to Congress, he stressed the efforts of faculty to exclude the College from secessionist war efforts by prohibiting students from enlisting in the Confederate Army and withholding consent for the army to use school buildings as barracks. In addition, after the war, Ewell was a strong advocate for Black suffrage and education, earning him stern rebukes from a number of her peers and colleagues. Above all, before, during, and after the war, Ewell wanted stability for the College. His support for the Union and for Black rights reflects that desire for stability, rather than sympathy for the plight of the Black Americans.

Ewell is most famous for resuscitating the College after the trials of the Civil War, yet he did not carry out this work alone. Journalists speculate as to whether Samuel Harris, a prominent Williamsburg business owner, contributed funds to keep the school open. In addition, Ewell was constantly accompanied by a Black servant named Malachai Gardiner, who drove the president to work, handled keys to the buildings, and demonstrated a broad swath of knowledge about the College and its workings. Finally, as alluded to earlier, Ewell’s wealth stemmed from his plantation, which was maintained by Black slaves and workers.

The bottom line is that Ewell was a slave owner who helped lead the Confederacy. All his efforts to keep the College running during and after the Civil War are tainted by that disturbing reality. No amount of bell-ringing can unring Ewell’s racism. Today, William & Mary students are finally de-immortalizing this godlike figure in their school’s history. In the spring of 2020, a student petition to rename Ewell Hall collected over 6,000 signatures. Today, despite widespread student outrage, the name still stands. The bell still tolls.

Chapman, Anne. Benjamin Stoddert Ewell: A Biography. 1984. William and Mary, PhD dissertation. https://dx.doi.org/doi:10.21220/s2-2jgm-0708. Accessed 28 Nov. 2020.

Anne W. Chapman wrote a biography of Benjamin Stoddert Ewell for her dissertation when she received her PhD from William & Mary. Her paper is the most comprehensive account of Ewell’s life that I could find. In addition to drawing from a number of primary sources for libraries across the country, Chapman interviewed direct descendants of the Ewell family. As a result, the dissertation provides an in-depth exploration of Ewell’s family, connections to the college, career as president, and role as a Civil War colonel in great detail. In presenting my research, I used Chapman’s dissertation primarily for contextualization and controversies. The paper uncovers the depth of Ewell’s connection to the college by detailing his efforts to keep the school open during the Civil War. Yet Chapman also addresses Ewell’s ties to slavery at a number of points in the biography. First, she describes the number and nature of enslaved workers at Ewell Hall. Second, she includes the role of enslaved soldiers in Ewell’s war efforts. Finally, she analyzes Ewell’s personal opinions regarding the institution of slavery. While, overall, Chapman paints a favorable portrait of Ewell, her dissertation provides a detailed and nuanced picture of the figure.

Holly, L. Neil and Jeremy P. Martin. “Leadership in Crisis: A Historical Analysis of Two College Presidencies in Reconstruction Virginia.” Higher Education in Review, vol. 9, 2012, pp. 37-64.

Holly and Martin compare Benjamin Stoddert Ewell’s presidency at William and Mary to the presidency of Robert E. Lee at Washington College. In particular, the authors examine how Ewell and Lee, as leaders of Southern school, sequestered funds for their institutions during Reconstruction. While the article recognizes the disadvantages Ewell faced as a lesser-known leader of a small institution that faced significant obstacles during and after the war, the piece ultimately concludes that Lee was a more effective college president. Ewell resisted institutional change, while Lee resurrected Washington College by embracing change. According to the paper’s final section, “the post-war William and Mary under Ewell’s leadership was an institutional echo of the pre-war South, whereas Washington College under Lee’s leadership was progressive, embodying a vision of a new South” (60). I used this paper for the achievements section of my research. The findings and analysis of Holly and Martin contradicts the notion that Ewell should be honored for his efforts to bolster the college financially during and after the Civil War.

Ingram, Ywone Edwards "More than Memory: Representing an African American Neighborhood at the Ravenscroft Site" (2011). African Diaspora Archaeology Newsletter, vol. 3, no. 2, 2011. ScholarWorks, https://scholarworks.umass.edu/adan/vol14/iss3/. Accessed 28 Nov. 2020.

Ywone Edwards Ingram describes the archeological excavation of the Ravencroft site in the designated Historic Area of Williamsburg. Initially, the site was preserved in order to uncover artifacts from an 18th-century cellar. In the 20th century, however, the block resided at the heart of the city’s African American economic and cultural activity, and archeologists have only recently begun to privilege that history. Prominent 20th-century structures that thrived on the street include a hotel, a barber shop, a pool room, two Baptist churches, and the James City County Training School. I used the article to contextualize the “Arguments” section of my research. A prominent Change.org petition calls for Ewell Hall to be renamed after Samel Harris. Ingram describes Harris as a “wholesale merchant” and “the owner of the prominent Harris’ Cheap Store in the late nineteenth century” (3). Ingram’s article, then, supports the petition’s presentation of Harris as a key Black figure in 19th-century Williamsburg. I struggled, however, to find concrete evidence of his financial role in keeping the college open during the Civil War.

Rouse, Park. “Notes and Documents.” The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, vol. 94, no. 1, 1986, pp. 77–87. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/4248862. Accessed 3 Dec. 2020.

This article combines biographical summary with primary sources to reveal the dire state of William and Mary in 1887 during Benjamin Stoddert Ewell’s post-war presidency. Rouse details the visit of Daniel and Elizabeth Gilman to the college. Gilman was the president of Johns Hopkins University. In a letter, Elizabeth Gilman describes the campus as “a most pathetic place, full of the past with no present but one of dreary decay” (Rouse 82). More importantly, however, Elizabeth’s letters provide insight into the roles and treatment of the Ewell family’s Black servants. Two servants are mentioned in particular: Malachai Gardiner and Peter Ash. Gardiner is described as Ewell’s attendant, while Ash serves as a driver and table waiter. Although in the post-war period, both Gardiner and Ash are servants and not enslaved, the primary source of Elizabeth Gilman’s account could help me to trace the identities of those who were enslaved at Ewell Hall. It is unclear whether Ewell’s freed slaves left the property after the war or continued on as paid workers. Regardless, this article highlights the high order of Ewell’s challenge as a president to keep the college alive. At the same time, it reveals the potential ways in which the Ewells may have exploited Black workers, even after their emancipation.

Thomas, Earl Baldwin, et al. “Colonel Benjamin Stoddert Ewell, LL.D.” The Phi Beta Kappa Key, vol. 4, no. 6, 1921, pp. 361–369. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/42913264. Accessed 3 Dec. 2020.

In this article published by the Phi Beta Kappa Society, Earl Baldwin Thomas describes and lauds Benjamin Stoddert Ewell’s efforts to keep William and Mary open during the destruction of the Civil War and revive the school to its pre-war glory in the ashen aftermath. Baldwin includes three letters of correspondence between President Ewell and Charles F. Richardson, the Secretary of the Phi Beta Kappa Society at Dartmouth College. The letters illustrate not only Ewell’s efforts to create and maintain connections with prestigious Northern institutions, but also the national extent of his fame. Richardson stresses his hopes for Ewell’s post-war restoration efforts, a sentiment which Baldwin re-emphasizes at the start and conclusion of the article. Specifically, Richardson speaks on behalf of the society, which “will express its earnest hope that the College of William and Mary, under its ancient name and charter, may yet renew its youth” (365). Baldwin, from the shore of the 20th century, describes a historical narrative in which Ewell carries Richardson’s hope to fruition by declaring, “It was this man who kept the college alive and pre- served its charter, in the face of seemingly impossible” (361). Overall, this work, written only 26 years after his death, represents a widespread esteem for Ewell in academic communities in both the North and South. It should be noted, however, that this piece was published by the Phi Beta Kappa Society, which was founded at the College of William and Mary. Both Richardson and Baldwin have crucial ties to an institution with pre-existing loyalty to the college itself. With this still in mind, I used Baldwin’s article in the achievements section of my research to confirm Ewell’s post-war revival efforts and describe the extent of his institutional connections.

Special Collections

• Report of the educational work of the College of William and Mary, from 1865 to 1887

• [Letter to] Hon. L. W. Perce, M.C. / [Ben'j S. Ewell]

• Oxrieder, Julia W. 1998. Rich, black and Southern: The Harris Family of Williamsburg (and Boston). New Church, VA: Miona Publications.