Francis Miles Finch (1827 - 1907)

Francis Miles Finch (June 9, 1827–July 31, 1907) was an American judge, poet, and academic associated with the early years of Cornell University. One of his poems, "The Blue and the Gray", is frequently reprinted to this day. Francis Miles Finch was born in on June 9, 1827, in Ithaca, New York. He was educated at Yale University, where, according to a contemporary, he was a "thoughtful scholar in the class-room, a prizeman in the essay competitions, an influential editor of the Yale Lit an impressive speaker in the Linonian Society, hail-fellow-well-met on the campus, sedate, impulsive, big-hearted, wise, witty, everywhere he was the ideal collegian." Because of his achievements, he became a member of Skull and Bones. Having been graduated in 1849, he returned to Ithaca, became a lawyer, and speedily distinguished himself in his profession. He soon became as a speaker in the political campaigns which preceded and followed the Civil War.