[DeltAlum]

From the official history of Delta Tau Delta: Civil War nearly kills the new fraternity. Saved by a two man horseback ride in a blizzard...

1858 Delta Tau Delta is founded at Bethany College. Eight undergraduates, angered by a fixed vote for a prize in oratory to be given at the Neotrophian Literary Society the only real forum for students to practice and demonstrate skills in poetry, public speaking, and writing essays respond by forming a secret society. The purpose of the new society, known only by the Greek letters Delta Tau Delta, is to see that the Neotrophian is returned to popular control, and delivered from the hands of the group of students who seized it.

The Fraternity was founded to right an unjust situation; Delta Tau Delta was born of the knowledge that integrity is essential. Its eight founders' outraged that one group of students would and could choose in advance the candidate they favored, then join together to swing enough votes for that man to win, regardless of his actual performance in the contest, presented the first opportunity for Delts to realize the importance of accountability.

1859 Bethany Chapter grants charters to three chapters; West Liberty, West Virginia University, and Jefferson. To establish membership, the new chapters are given a Constitution and Ritual, membership badges, and are taught the Fraternity's mottoes and purposes all of which had been devised by the eight founders shortly after the group's initial formation.

Whether the founders realized it at the time or not, brotherhood truly did sustain the Fraternity. Had they not had the foresight to extend welcoming arms to other young men interested in becoming Delts, the organization would have dissolved.

1861 Jefferson Chapter assumes Fraternity control and Alpha designation. Henry Bell, a founder and alumnus, comes from his home in Kentucky to search for a way to preserve the Fraternity after the last remaining Bethany members leave for the armed forces. In Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, at Jefferson College, he find Rhodes Sutton and Samuel Brown and persuades them to come to Bethany to be initiated. The two men brave a snowstorm and nearly impassible mountain roads on horseback to be initiated at Bethany on February 22. Sutton and Brown return to Canonsburg the following morning and that day initiate two more men at Jefferson.

Henry Bell knew his responsibility to keep Delta Tau Delta alive and flourishing; he was accountable to his brothers and to future members of the Fraternity. A man of integrity, he knew to look for other men of integrity Rhodes Sutton and Samuel Brown to entrust with the future of the organization.