[Letter] 1854 October 27, West Point, NY [to] [Ruggles?] / H[enry] Coppée.

See also additional letters in the collection from Coppée as well as a letter from his daughters to Edith Wharton about their father's work.

Coppée states that he will be an applicant for a professorship at the University of Pennsylvania and requests Ruggles' recommendation for the post. Coppée reviews his record and his matriculation at Yale, asserting that he has kept up with his classics reading and could assume the position without the "painful necessity of rapid preparation." He states that, if successful, he will "vindicate your good opinion." Coppée did earn the professorship at the University of Pennsylvania, leaving his teaching duties at West Point; he would go on from Penn to become the first President of Lehigh, serving from 1866 to 1875. As a young man, Coppée worked on the railroad and fought in the Army during the Mexican War. During his term in office, many buildings including the President's house, Packer Hall, and the University Center were constructed; Coppée also delivered lectures on history, logic, rhetoric, political economy and Shakespeare.