We often remember our first graduate, Samuel Dibble of the class of 1856, who was the only student to graduate in that year. But we don’t talk as much about the second graduate, or for that matter, any of the six graduates of the class of 1857. Mr. Dibble, as a transfer student from the College of Charleston, managed the amazing feat of completing two years’ work in one academic year. Several of the 1857 graduates actually enrolled on opening day in 1854.
The first name in the college register is that of James Newton Carlisle, who enrolled in the sophomore class in August 1854, at the opening of the college. He came from the Goshen Hill section of Union, SC, and was 17 at the time he came to college. As with each of his classmates, he gave an address at commencement. His was on “History.” He received a Wofford master’s degree in 1868. He apparently was not related, not closely, anyway, to Professor and President James H. Carlisle.
Spencer Morgan Dawkins also enrolled on opening day, entering the sophomore class. He also came from Union County, though from the area near Pacolet in Spartanburg County. He was 21 years old. We don’t know much else, but we do have a receipt for his tuition. His commencement address was on “Law and Dignity of Labor.”
Four other members of the class of 1857 enrolled and entered the sophomore class in January 1855. One was George Cofield, who, like his classmate J. N. Carlisle, came from the Goshen Hill section of Union County. Cofield was 20 and was the second honor graduate of his class. As such, he gave his salutatory address in Latin, which the newspaper noted that he did acceptably. He later became president of Spartanburg’s Board of Trade – the chamber of commerce, president of the National Bank of Spartanburg, a fire insurance company, and other businesses. Cofield served in the South Carolina Volunteers for much of the Civil War.
Robert Edge Bowie, age 18, came to Wofford from Abbeville County. His 1857 graduation address was an oration on Cicero.
Charles Petty, at age 20, came from the Limestone Springs section of Spartanburg County. That area is now in Cherokee County. He had graduated from the St. John’s School in Spartanburg before coming to Wofford. He was the first honor graduate of the class of 1857, and his address was on “The Dangers and Duties of Educated Men.” He also offered valedictory remarks. He went on to become a long-time president of the Wofford National Alumni Association and was editor of the Carolina Spartan, the local newspaper. A Confederate veteran, he served briefly in the legislature. An active member of the Spartanburg community, he was around to give remarks at the dedication of Wofford’s first library building in 1910, and he died just past his 80th birthday in 1915.
The last of those January 1855 enrollees was William Maxwell Martin. He enrolled from Richland County, and his father was a Methodist minister in the South Carolina Conference. His commencement address, “The Calico Flag,” was regarded as the best of the talks. Martin was later known as the “first martyr of Southern Independence” – they claimed he was the first soldier to die in the Civil War. He died in February 1861 after suffering from exposure while standing by his cannon at Fort Moultrie. Martin was an author, with a book entitled “Lyrics and Sketches” published posthumously. There’s a monument to his memory at Washington Street United Methodist Church in Columbia, where his father served as pastor. 
The six “second graduates” of Wofford College led different careers, and several distinguished themselves as leaders in their communities. Their service to their college, church, and community set a standard for future Wofford alumni to follow.
