The Professors of the Radical University: T. N. Roberts

Theophilus Nunez Roberts (b. January 29, 1839; d. November 4, 1909)
Georgia. White.
Education: Medical College of South Carolina (M.D.)
Occupation: physician, professor

T. N. Roberts was born in 1839 in Savannah, Georgia.  Nothing is known about his early life.  In the 1850s, he studied in Charleston, South Carolina under Middleton Michel, a respected physician. Shortly before the Civil War, Roberts began attending the Medical College of South Carolina (now the Medical University), graduating with an M.D. in March 1861.

While Roberts was of military age, according to an 1867 oath he signed, he did not serve in Confederate army.  After the war, during the late 1860s, he worked as a physician for Union troops stationed at Fort Pulaski in Savannah, in Atlanta, and in Charleston under Major Brayton   By the early 1870s, Roberts had moved to Columbia and was working as city physician.

Roberts became Professor of Chemistry, Pharmacy, Mineralogy, and Geology at the University of South Carolina in June, 1872.  That professorship had long been held by Joseph LeConte, a distinguished 19th century scientist.  However, LeConte found life under Reconstruction intolerable and resigned the professorship in 1870.  In his place, the Board of Trustees appointed James Woodrow, a professor at the Columbia Theological Seminary.

Woodrow's appointment had been intended as temporary, and he left the position in 1872 to travel in Europe.  He was replaced by Roberts.  At the meeting where Roberts received his appointment, the Board of Trustees also appointed A. W. Cummings as a professor.

Accounts differ as to whether Woodrow willingly tendered his resignation in order to travel or if he was pressured by the Board of Trustees. In any case, he left the university at a fortuitous time.  The Board of Trustees was formed by Radical Republicans, and the next year, they removed all faculty with opposing political beliefs.  Woodrow had supported the Confederacy and was opposed to Reconstruction, so he almost certainly would have been removed had he not left for Europe.

Roberts' appointment as a professor received a mixed reception.  Newspapers such as the Columbia Union, the Charleston Courier and the Newberry Herald wrote positively about the appointment, citing, for example, "high testimonials from several eminently scientific men attesting [Roberts'] proficiency in the science."

Others were highly critical of Roberts' appointment.  The Charleston Daily News reported that Roberts "is mentioned by the [Columbia] Carolinian [newspaper] as recently elected city physician of Columbia under her present Radical administration, but beyond this he appears to be a youth to fortune and to fame unknown, and it is possible that he may even know something about chemistry."

Some students directly expressed their disapproval of Roberts.  At the June commencement ceremony, held shortly after Roberts' appointment, three graduating university students "hooted at" Roberts and Cummings.  The exact offensive was not described in newspapers, but it was sufficiently upsetting that both the Board of Trustees and law school students took action.  The Board passed a resolution banning the students from campus and debarring them of alumni privileges.  A graduating law student wrote a Letter to the Editor of the Columbia Union newspaper stating that the law students did not countenance the behavior of the three students.  These actions were received with defiance.  The three offending students responded with a letter to the Daily Phoenix newspaper stating that they did not seek or desire the "countenance" of the law students and they stood by their actions.  The Edgefield Advertiser mocked the Board, calling their resolution "farcical in its silliness and impotency."

The views critical of Roberts were the ones which were ultimately used in later historical accounts.  Writing in 1905, historian John S. Reynolds wrote in his book Reconstruction in South Carolina, 1865-1877 that

Roberts was unknown to the people and was generally accounted an adventurer whom the trustees thought they could use in their scheme to convert the University into a mixed school for whites and blacks.

Roberts changed professorships after about a year, when there was major turnover in the faculty.  On October 3, 1873, four days before the first Black student registered at the university, the Board accepted one professor's resignation and dismissed two others.  One of the dismissed professors was R. B. Barnwell, the Professor of History, Political Philosophy, and Political Economy.  Roberts was appointed to his professorship, and Roberts' old professorship was given to William Main.  A third professor, Fisk Brewer, replaced one of the other dismissed professors.  This change in the faculty was harshly criticized by Conservative newspapers.  For example, the Daily Phoenix described the changes as "a step backwards toward medieval darkness."

As a professor, Roberts appears to have been well-regarded by his students.  His former student C. C. Scott wrote that he "was a marvel to most of the students.  He made the subjects so interesting that many of them were sorry when the recitation period had expired."  Roberts remained at the university until it closed in July, 1877.

After the university closure, Roberts remained in Columbia for a few years.  During this time, he worked as an inventor.  He received three U.S. patents in 1879.  One was for a fire alarm, and the other two were for a combination lock-alarm.

Roberts left Columbia after a few years, but he remained in the state, working as a physician and for the federal government.  He moved to Charleston but later moved to Mount Pleasant (a suburb of Charleston) and to Summerville.  He held federal appointments as a storekeeper (based in Walhalla), for the Internal Revenue Service, and as postmaster (for Mount Pleasant).

Roberts died in Charleston in 1909.  The cause of death was given as "chronic nephritis" (inflammation of the kidneys).

Diagram of Roberts' alarm-lock
Patent No. 213,249

Diagram of Roberts' fire alarm
Patent No. 216,576

Sources
1). "Local items."  The daily phoenix, June 20, 1872, p. 2.

2). "The South Carolina University."  The daily phoenix, October 01, 1869, p. 2.

3). Reports and Resolutions of the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina at the Regular Session Commencing January 10, 1899, Vol. 2.  Bryan Printing Company, Columbia, SC.  1899. p. 590.

4). Reports and Resolutions of the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina at the Regular Session Commencing January 10, 1889, Vol. 2.  James H. Woodrow, Columbia, SC.  1890. p. 323-324.

4). Reports and Resolutions of the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina at the Regular Session Commencing November 23, 1886, Vol. 2.  Charles A. Calvo, Jr., Columbia, SC.  1887. p. 323-324.

5). Georgia, Office of the Governor. Returns of qualified voters under the Reconstruction Act, 1867. Georgia State Archives, Morrow, Georgia

6). Record of Appointment of Postmasters, 1832-1971. NARA Microfilm Publication, M841, 145 rolls. Records of the Post Office Department, Record Group Number 28. Washington, D.C.: National Archives

7). Charleston, South Carolina, City Directory, 1880, 1886

8). National Archives and Records Administration (NARA); Washington, D.C.; Returns from U.S. Military Posts, 1800-1916; Microfilm Serial: M617; Microfilm Roll: 1126

9). Charleston, South Carolina, Marriage Records, 1877-1887.  South Carolina Department of Archives and History, Columbia, South Carolina.

10). South Carolina Department of Archives and History; Columbia, South Carolina; South Carolina Death Records; Year Range: 1900-1924; Death County or Certificate Range: Charleston.  Certificate Number: 001452.

11). "Professor Theophilus N. Roberts."  The Newberry herald, July 10, 1872, p. 1.

12). "The New Professors."  The Charleston daily news, June 22, 1872, p. 4.

13). "Petty Spite."  Edgefield advertiser, August 8, 1872, p. 2.

14). The daily phoenix, July 3, 1872, p. 2.

15). "The Recent Changes in the State University," The daily phoenix, October 7, 1873, p. 2.

16).  Roberts, Theophilus N. "Improvement in Alarm-Locks."  Patent No. 213,249. United States Patent Office. January 20, 1879.

17).  Roberts, Theophilus N. "Fire-alarm."  Patent No. 216,576. United States Patent Office. June 17, 1879.

18).  Roberts, Theophilus N. "Alarm-Locks."  Patent No. 216,219. United States Patent Office. June 3, 1879.

19). "The South Carolina University"  The Charleston daily news, June 21, 1872, p. 1.