IHS Press Announces Release of For Duty and Destiny: The Life and Civil War Diary of William Taylor Stott, Hoosier Soldier and Educator

Indianapolis—The Indiana Historical Society Press is proud to announce the release of For Duty and Destiny: The Life and Civil War Diary of William Taylor Stott, Hoosier Soldier and Educator. Edited by author and educator Lloyd A. Hunter, this biographical book explores the life of William Taylor Stott, native Hoosier and Franklin college graduate.

William Taylor Stott was an 1861 graduate of Franklin College, who later became the president who took the college from virtual bankruptcy in 1872 to its place as a leading liberal arts institution in Indiana by the turn of the century. Stott was an inspirational force in the Indiana Baptist community, a foremost champion of small denominational colleges and of higher education in general, and a figure of note in local politics and in the Grand Army of the Republic. He also fought in the 18th Indiana Volunteer Infantry during the Civil War, rising from private to captain.

Stott’s diary reveals a soldier who was also a scholar in camp and on the march—one who took every available moment to read theology, philosophy and great literary works. While amazingly ecumenical for that era, he was nonetheless a Baptist through and through, insisting on baptism only by immersion and displaying a hatred of alcohol and its effects on his comrades. A scion of Baptist preachers, Stott championed temperance in the army and inherited an antislavery fervor. Stott the thinker, however, had a playful side, slyly exposing a dry wit and a sense of humor that can sneak up on the reader.

About the Author
Lloyd A. Hunter, is a professor emeritus of history and American studies at Franklin College, where he founded and directed the American studies program and occupied the Roger D. Branigin Chair of History. Hunter received recognition by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and Council for Advancement and Support of Education as the 2003 Outstanding Indiana Professor of the Year.

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Title: For Duty and Destiny: The Life and Civil War Diary of William Taylor Stott, Hoosier Soldier and Educator
Illustrations: black-and-white illustrations
Price: $27.95
Pages: 544
Size: 6 x 9
Cover: Cloth
Publication Date: April 2011
ISBN: 978-0-87195-290-5

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Indianapolis, IN 46202

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