Milton W. Humphreys

Milton Wylie Humphreys (September 15, 1844 – November 20, 1928) was an American Confederate sergeant during the American Civil War of 1861-1865 and an early scholar of Ancient Greek and Latin in the United States. He was the first professor to introduce the Roman pronunciation of Latin in the United States while teaching at Washington and Lee University. Additionally, he was the first Professor of Latin and Greek at Vanderbilt University and the University of Texas at Austin. He spent the rest of his career at the University of Virginia. He also served as the President of the American Philological Association in 1882–1883.

Biography Early life Milton Wylie Humphreys was born on September 15, 1844, in Greenbrier County, West Virginia, when it was still part of Virginia. His father was Andrew Cavet Humphreys and his mother, Mary McQuain (Hefner) Humphreys. Most of his combat operations took place in West Virginia.

He was then asked by Chancellor Landon Garland (1810–1895) to become the first professor of Greek at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, a newly formed university, which he accepted. He designed the curriculum, as well as the requirements for admission and graduation. In 1926, he published his Civil War memoirs. Quaestiones metricae de accentus momento in versu heroico (1874, 30 pages). On Negative Commands in Greek (1876, 4 pages). On Certain Influences of Accent in Latin Iambic Trimeters (1876; 39 pages). Elision: Especially in Greek (1878, 14 pages). On Certain Effects of Elision (1879). On the Nature of Caesura (1879, 7 pages). A Contribution to Infantile Linguistic (1880, 13 pages). Aristophanes: Butt (1885) The Antigone of Sophocles (1891) On the Equivalence of Rhythmical Bars and Metrical Feet (1892, 177 pages). Demosthenes on the Crown (with introduction and notes, 1913, 306 pages). Hephaestion and Irrationality (1915). A History of the Lynchburg Campaign (1924, 74 pages). Military Operations 1861–1863 at Fayetteville, West Virginia (1926; 1932, 103 pages). Anthony, the White Man's Friend: How a Greenbrier Stream and Cave Became Lasting Memorials to a Friendly Indian (1927, 6 pages). Influence of Accent in Latin Dactylic Hexameters (22 pages). Thucydides and Geometry (4 pages).

Secondary source Joseph R. Barrigan, Southern Humanities Review (Volume 10, 1977).