George Dabney was an educator and scholar of classics, who served on the faculty of Washington College (now Washington and Lee University

Washington and Lee University

Washington and Lee University is a private liberal arts college in Lexington, Virginia, United States.The classical school from which Washington and Lee descended was established in 1749 as Augusta Academy, about north of its present location. In 1776 it was renamed Liberty Hall in a burst of...

) from 1837 to 1854.

Biography

Dabney was educated at the University of Virginia; he then taught at New London Academy in Bedford County, Virginia, and then he began teaching ancient languages at Washington College in 1837. He delivered a graduation address at Washington College in 1838 on the importance of studying classics and published http://books.google.com/books?id=y2AAAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA330-IA3&dq=On+the+Study+of+Ancient+Languages+in+the+United+States+1851&hl=en&ei=NIjSTprnJc6CtgfQ0JSrDQ&sa=X&oi=book result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CEIQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=On%20the%20Study%20of%20Ancient%20Languages%20in%20the%20United%20States%201851&f=false "On the Study of Ancient Languages in the United States," in the Southern Literary Messenger in 1851. He also delivered an Address "on the value of writing," to the Alumni of the University of Virginia in June 1849. Dabney was, with fellow Washington College professor Henry Ruffner

Henry Ruffner

Henry Ruffner , was an educator and Presbyterian minister, who served as president of Washington College .-Biography:...

, active in the anti-slavery movement in western Virginia and he freed several of his slaves in the 1850s.