Class of 1829

Joseph Allen Smith Izard: Born Feb. 17, 1810, Philadelphia, PA.

Military History. — Cadet at the Military Academy, July 1, 1825, to July 1, 1829, when he was graduated and promoted in the Army to

Bvt. Second Lieut., 3d Artillery, July 1, 1829.

Second Lieut., 3d Artillery, July 1, 1829.

Served: at the Military Academy, as Asst. Professor of Geography,

(First Lieut., 3d Artillery, June 30, 1836)

History, and Ethics, Aug. 30, 1829, to June 27, 1835; and in the Florida War, 1836‑37.

Resigned, Apr. 30, 1837.

Civil History. — Planter, Back River, S. C., near Savannah, Ga., 1838‑79.

Died, July 26, 1879, at Richfield Springs, N. Y.: Aged 69.

Buried, Magnolia Cemetery, Charleston, S. C.

 p422  Biographical Sketch.

J. Allen Smith Izard was born, Feb. 17, 1810, in Philadelphia, Penn., and died, July 26, 1879, at Richfield Springs, N. Y., in the seventieth year of his age.

His ancestors were Landgraves, Governors, and other noted men of South Carolina while a colony of Great Britain. His father was an accomplished and distinguished gentleman, who had seen much of the world, and who highly appreciated the advantages of liberal education.

Hence he early placed his son under a private French tutor, and subsequently sent him to Dr. Allen's celebrated school at Hyde Park on the Hudson River, where he was well grounded in English and classical studies.

At the early age of fifteen, Izard entered the Military Academy, and it is not surprising that, possessed of an excellent and disciplined mind, he should have taken, upon graduation, the fourth honor in a very superior class, among whose members were such men, since so eminent, as Judge Charles Mason; Generals Robert E. Lee, James Barnes, C. P. Buckingham, Joseph E. Johnston, William Hoffman, and Benjamin W. Brice; Professors Charles W. Hackley, Ormsby M'Knight Mitchel, and James Clark, besides many others of mark, — lawyers, engineers, soldiers, etc. Upon graduation he was commissioned, July 1, 1829, Brevet Second Lieutenant in the Third Regiment of Artillery; and Aug. 30, 1829, was ordered back to West Point as an Assistant Professor of Geography, History, and Ethics, continuing at the Academy until June 27, 1835.

The writer of this, then a Cadet, vividly recalls the fine soldierly form and dignified demeanor of the handsome Lieutenant in his well-fitting uniform, and his quick intelligence and scholar­ly attainments in the recitation room. After leaving West Point, he was promoted, June 30, 1836, to be a First Lieutenant, and ordered to Florida, where he served under General Jesup against the Seminole Indians until his resignation from the Army, Apr. 30, 1837.

Upon Izard's leaving the service of the United States, he became the proprietor of a large plantation in South Carolina, nearly opposite Savannah, Ga., which he managed with scientific skill, and administered its working with all the precision and discipline acquired in his military training. He at once adopted every modern improvement in rice culture which experience could suggest, and all meliorating methods to insure economy and thorough system, which quickly resulted in bringing order out of chaos, producing large crops, and making his reputation as a model planter in the South.

With his high-born and accomplished wife, he spent most of his time upon his plantation looking after his agricultural interests; or at Charleston, enjoying books, which were his passion, and society, which he adorned. Several times he visited Europe, and usually spent his summers at the North, where he had many friends, who appreciated his great worth, large intelligence, and genial intercourse. Lovely Newport was his favorite seaside resort, but in his latter years he sought the benefits of the mineral springs in Central New York. Wherever he went, he was universally welcomed and honored, for he was a man of the highest purity, elevated moral tone, and spotless honor; possessed rare mental gifts enhanced by study and foreign travel; was a charming classical and beautiful belles-lettres scholar; and, in fine, was one who had looked deep into nature and art, and had been refreshed at the fountains of philosophy, history, science, and literature.

Though so richly endowed, he had never devoted himself to author­ship; but he was eminently the "full man" of reading, and the "ready  p423 man" of conversation. His eloquent tongue had a magnetic influence, there being few subjects on which he could not discourse and give delight and instruction, for he had traversed much of the vast range of ancient and modern thought, and was never a holiday trifler in the gardens of learning. With manners polished, engaging, and courtly; with a countenance expressive of benevolence, sympathy, and idealism; with a voice soft, tender, and musical; with tastes refined and perceptions delicate; and with a mind fertile, vigorous, and capacious, — it is not surprising that Izard was a great favorite with all classes, whether ripe and rare scholars, or simply beneficiaries of his many-sided intellect and versatile accomplishments. A friend, in a letter, says of Izard: "He was, take him all in all, and considering his noble personal presence added to his cultivation and accomplishments, his exquisite polished manners, and more than all — far more — his unquestionable high and pure tone of character — the completest gentleman that it has ever been my good fortune to have intercourse and confidential relations with. One felt safety and security in talking to him and dealing with him."