William L. Breckinridge Centre College President (1863-1868)
William Lewis Breckinridge was born near Lexington, Kentucky, on
July 22, 1803, the uncle of John C. Breckinridge, Vice President
of the United States under James Buchanan. Breckinridge
graduated from Transylvania University, and was appointed
professor of Ancient Languages at Centre College in 1831. In
1836 Breckinridge became pastor of the First Presbyterian Church
in Louisville, a position he held for over twenty years. Shortly
before the Civil War, Breckinridge was president of Oakland
College, Mississippi. Following the death of Lewis Warner Green,
the Board of Trustees of Centre College elected Breckinridge as
president on October 15, 1863. Like his predecessor,
Breckinridge's heaviest responsibility was keeping the college
open during the years of the Civil War. He was an
emancipationist, who thought the Union should be preserved and
defended by arms if necessary, but as a person with Southern
roots, knew the Southerners to be earnest and sin