Founding Date

Jun 24th, 1856

The Lambda Chapter was founded on June 24, 1856, at Indiana Asbury University and ceased later that year in November. They were then reinstalled on June 8, 1857. The university was later renamed DePauw University in the 1870s. The chapter is located in Greencastle, Indiana.

Indiana Asbury University was a Methodist institution in Greencastle, Indiana. Today it is known as DePauw University. Our Lambda Chapter started there in the Fall of 1856 through the efforts of a transfer student from the Iota Chapter at Centre College.

The Secret Ten

Several brothers are noted as having joined Arcanus Decem, the Secret Ten. This local fraternity seems to have grown out of the Philiosonian Society and operated in the early to mid-1850s. Its demise appears to have occurred after December 1855. Some have suggested the A.D.s petitioned Phi Gamma Delta for a charter and became Lambda Chapter. Evidence shows this was not the case.

The DePauw University Archives contains the minutes of Arcanus Decem. They end in December 1855, with a closing note added by an 1852 graduate returning to law school in 1857. His entry bemoans (but does not explain) the disappearance of the group. The minutes give no indication of an effort to petition Phi Gamma Delta or any other fraternity.

If Arcanus Decem had become Lambda Chapter, all its members would have joined. Lambda's charter members included three or four A.D.s. At least two contemporary A.D.s were not made part of the chapter.

Some Arcanus Decem members joined Phi Gamma Delta at a later time. Lambda's "second charter" initiates in the fall of 1857 included two A.D.s. Lambda initiated four others between 1858 and 1879 as part of an effort to initiate faculty and other qualified graduates. Their initiations had nothing to do with their having been members of Arcanus Deceum. All these former A.D.s in our membership prompted the speculation of a link between the organizations.

Arcanus Decem surely orientated its members to the value of brotherhood, increasing the likelihood of their joining another fraternity after A.D. collapsed. It is also no surprise that former A.D.s would try to recruit their old brothers. Perhaps the opportunity to join Phi Gamma Delta even caused a break up of Arcanus Decem. Regardless, Lambda Chapter clearly did not descend directly from this local fraternity.

The 1856 Rebellion

Lambda Chapter has the distinction of having been founded twice within a year's time. Shortly after W. H. Abney installed the chapter in the fall of 1856, a conflict arose between University President Daniel Curry and the student body. Curry ruled that literary societies must meet in the afternoon and not at night. Students objected vehemently. All the seniors and most of the lower classes ultimately withdrew from school. This included all of the Lambda Chapter.

Much of the senior class transferred to Indiana University, including founders Wilson and Cloud, who received degrees there. The Trustees accepted the resignation of President Curry at the end of the college year. Many underclassmen eventually returned to Asbury.

Charter member Luther Clay Slavens was appointed legate in June 1857 to reestablish the chapter and was assisted by Charles F. Springer. Since that time Lambda Chapter has enjoyed a continuous existence.

Honorary Initiates

A particular feature of this list is the preponderance of graduate and faculty initiates, such as General Lew Wallace. Lambda Chapter first initiated alumni returning for commencement in 1859 and 1860. After the Civil War, they began to initiate faculty members and visiting lecturers, as did many other Midwestern chapters, including Wabash and Indiana. Contemporaries characterized it as both a way to increase the prestige of the Fraternity and as a competition with other fraternities.

Criticism rose across the Fraternity over such "honorary" initiates. At a graduate banquet, one was asked to give a toast on "Phi Gamma Delta." As the man spoke, it grew increasingly clear that he had no understanding of the Fraternity or its aims. Another undergraduate told of intercepting a lecturer at his hotel and offering him membership. The man said he might already be a member, that he had been initiated into so many college fraternities that he couldn't remember them all. Thus, honorary initiations fell out of favor. Today faculty and, less frequently, other graduates are initiated although never on an honorary basis.

Family Connections

Many familial connections appear in this list. Families sometimes sent siblings and cousins to the same school. The admission of a man to Phi Gamma Delta in no way ensured his blood relatives would join him, but it happened many times at Lambda. The first example appears with charter member and second legate Luther C. Slavens, who saw his first cousin John and brothers James and Rodney initiated (and later his first cousin once removed William H.). Then came the three Gathright brothers. By 1870 four Ridpath brothers had joined. Others include Beasley, Bartholomew, and Heath. Reubelt appears three times and Rippetoe twice, although the state of their relations is not yet determined.

Graduate initiate Patterson McNutt married the older sister of Luther and James Slavens; the latter married Patterson's younger sister Martha. John Clark Ridpath's brother-in-law, G.C. Smythe, was initiated as a graduate. Lew Wallace's brother-in-law Henry Lane was initiated at Wabash as a graduate. Eli Ritter's daughter married a Phi Gam. All four daughters of Greencastle resident J.R.M. Allen married DePauw Phi Gams: Elvira to Oliver Hampton Smith, Sarah Ellen to Jason Lee Rippetoe, Jennie to Marion M. Bovard, Alice to James K. Hawk. Undoubtedly these but scratch the surface.

All of this underscores their close social circles of family, geography, college, and the Methodist church (by which Indiana Asbury was established and supported).

Lambda Founders included: William Henry Abney (Indiana Asbury 1858); Luther Clay Slavens (Indiana Asbury 1858); Harvey Cheek (Indiana Asbury 1857); Hiram Wilbur Cloud (Indiana Asbury 1857); Jesse Squire Gathright (Indiana Asbury 1858); and John Slavens (Indiana Asbury 1858).

Photographs

No other Phi Gam chapter of this age has such a complete photographic record of its early undergraduates. The location of the originals is unknown; most of the following images were copies made for a chapter scrapbook. Some appeared in a 1956 The Phi Gamma Delta article and subsequently disappeared. Except where noted, the images are of undergraduate brothers. Many wear a badge on the center of their shirts, or sometimes after the Civil War, on necktie knots. Note the use of chains, now prohibited.