Soldier and educator. He was born at Savannah, Georgia, the son of Edward and Carolina Eugenia Raingeard DeLavillate Coppee, who fled from Santo Domingo during the great slave insurrection. His father took up the practice of medicine in Georgia where he was one of the founders of the First Presbyterian Church of Savannah in 1827 and charter member of the Georgia Historical Society in 1839. At age 15 he entered Yale in the class of 1839 but withdrew after two years.

He became employed in the construction of the Central of Georgia Railroad, from Savannah to Macon, and in the study of engineering until the age of nineteen when he entered West Point, graduating in 1845. As brevet 2nd Lieutenant of Artillery he was assigned to garrison duty at Fort Columbus, NY until the outbreak of the Mexican War when he was transferred to the 1st Artillery which was with Gen. Scott. He received a brevet promotion to 1st Lieutenant and after the storming of Chapultepec was breveted Captain "for gallant and meritorious conduct" in the battles of Contreras and Churubusco.

In 1848 he was married to Julia de Witt and returned to West Point as Assistant Professor of French. After a year there he was transferred again to garrison duty, at Fort McHenry, but returned to West Point the following year as Assistant Professor of Geography, History and Ethics. He taught and had charge of the library until his resignation from the Army in 1855 to accept the chair of English literature and history at the University of Pennsylvania, a post he held with distinction for eleven years. An honored member of the American Philosophical Society, he published a number of textbooks and collections of literature. When the secession crisis and Civil War arose, Coppee chose the Union rather than his native state. Although he did not re-enter the army, he threw himself into the cause through various writings on military science, including, in 1862: Manual of Battalion Drill and a translation of Marmont's Esprit des Institutions Militares, and in 1863: Manual of Evolutions of the Line and Manual of Courts-Martial. In 1864 he became the editor of a new publication, The United States Service Magazine.

Two years later he resigned his editorship to become President of Lehigh University, a post he held from 1866 to 1875. While serving as President he also taught history and literature. In 1875, longing for a full-time return to his chief interests, teaching and writing, he resigned as President of Lehigh but remained with the title of Professor of English Literature and International and Constitutional Law. At the time of his death among his activities was that as Regent of the Smithsonian Institution. The venerable Professor Coppee was greatly admired and for many years played an important role in the Club's leadership.

Henry Coppee

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