Russell H. Conwell

Russell Herman Conwell (February 15, 1843 - December 6, 1925) was an American Baptist minister, orator, philanthropist, lawyer, and writer. He is best remembered as the founder and first president of Temple University in Philadelphia, as the Pastor of The Baptist Temple, and for his inspirational lecture, "Acres of Diamonds". He was born in South Worthington, Massachusetts. The son of Massachusetts farmers, Conwell left home to attend the Wilbraham Wesleyan Academy and later Yale University. In 1862, before graduating from Yale, he enlisted in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Conwell desired to enlist in the war effort shortly after its outbreak in 1861, but could not initially gain the approval of his father, Martin Conwell. His abolitionist father ultimately changed his mind, allowing Conwell to enlist in Company "F" of the 27th Massachusetts Volunteers, better known as the "Mountain Boys". Conwell and the Mountain Boys served in North Carolina and first engaged the enemy at Kinston, North Carolina. There Conwell gained a reputation for self-sacrifice. During the "Gum Swamp" expedition, he returned to the battlefield to retrieve the bodies of two of his deceased soldiers, and later during the same campaign purposefully drew enemy fire upon his position - resulting in his being shot in the shoulder - in order to gain a tactical advantage on his Confederate adversaries. On September 25, 1862 he was commissioned as a captain (to rank from September 9, 1862) and placed in command of Company F of the 46th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment. He was mustered out of service, along with his regiment, on July 29, 1863. After his nine-month enlistment, Conwell returned home to Massachusetts to convalesce after contracting a dangerous fever that plagued him throughout the summer of 1863. Upon regaining health, he volunteered for a three-year enlistment in the Second Massachusetts Artillery and was commissioned as a captain in command of Company D on September 9, 1863.