William S . Clark William Smith Clark ( July 31 , 1826 – March 9 , 1886 ) was a professor of chemistry , botany and zoology , a colonel during the American Civil War , and a leader in agricultural education . Raised and schooled in Easthampton , Massachusetts , Clark spent most of his adult life in Amherst , Massachusetts . He graduated from Amherst College in 1848 and obtained a doctorate in chemistry from Georgia Augusta University in Göttingen in 1852 . He then served as professor of chemistry at Amherst College from 1852 to 1867 . During the Civil War , he was granted leave from Amherst to serve with the 21st Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry , eventually achieving the rank of colonel and the command of that unit . In 1867 , Clark became the third president of the Massachusetts Agricultural College ( MAC ) , now the University of Massachusetts Amherst . He was the first to appoint a faculty and admit a class of students . Although initially successful , MAC was criticized by politicians and newspaper editors who felt it was a waste of funding in a state that was growing increasingly industrial . Farmers of western Massachusetts were slow to support the college . Despite these obstacles , Clark ' s success in organizing an innovative academic institution earned him international attention . Japanese officials , striving to achieve rapid modernization of that country in the wake of the Meiji Restoration , were especially intrigued by Clark ' s work . In 1876 , the Japanese government hired Clark as a foreign advisor to establish the Sapporo Agricultural College ( SAC ) , now Hokkaido University . During his eight months in Sapporo , Clark successfully organized SAC , had a significant impact on the scientific and economic development of the island of Hokkaido , and made a lasting imprint on Japanese culture . Clark ' s visage overlooks Sapporo from several statues and his parting words to his Japanese students , " Boys , be ambitious ! " have become a nationally known motto in Japan . After resigning the presidency of MAC in 1879 , Clark left academia to become the president of a mining company , Clark & Bothwell . The company , in operation from 1881 to 1882 , purchased several silver mines , mostly in Utah and California . Clark ' s partner , John R . Bothwell , proved to be corrupt and the company quickly folded , destroying Clark ' s reputation , his own finances and the fortunes of many of his friends and family . The subsequent scandal ruined Clark ' s health . He died of heart disease at his home in Amherst in 1886 . Education and early career . Born in Ashfield , Massachusetts , on July 31 , 1826 , William Smith Clark was the son of a country physician , Atherton Clark , and Harriet Smith Clark . In about 1834 , his family moved to Easthampton , Massachusetts . Clark was educated at Williston Seminary ( now the Williston Northampton School ) in Easthampton , and entered Amherst College in 1844 . He earned membership in the prestigious Phi Beta Kappa academic honor society and graduated in the class of 1848 . Clark then taught chemistry at Williston Seminary from 1848 to 1850 . In 1851 , he departed to study chemistry and botany at Georgia Augusta University in Germany , now known as the University of Göttingen , where he earned his Ph . D . in chemistry in 1852 . Later that year , Clark returned to Amherst and accepted a professorship in analytical and applied chemistry at Amherst College . He held that position until 1867 . He also served as professor of zoology from 1852 to 1858 , and of botany from 1854 to 1858 . Shortly after his appointment , Clark began to promote agricultural education , a subject which had attracted his attention during his time in Göttingen . Beginning in 1853 , he headed a new Division of Science for the theoretical and practical study of agriculture . The program was not successful , however , and was discontinued in 1857 due to poor enrollment . It became clear to Clark that a new type of institution would be necessary if agricultural education were to be taught effectively . He was a member of the Massachusetts Board of Agriculture from 1859 to 1861 and was the president of the Hampshire Board of Agriculture from 1860 to 1861 , and later from 1871 to 1872 . He used his position in these organizations to seek support for an agricultural college in Massachusetts . Family . A few months after returning home from Germany , on May 25 , 1853 , Clark married Harriet Keopuolani Richards Williston . Harriet Williston was the daughter of Clarissa and William Richards , American missionaries to the Kingdom of Hawaii . In 1838 , Harriet and her brother Lyman were sent from Hawaii to be taken in by industrialist Samuel Williston so that they could be schooled at Williston Seminary in Easthampton . William Richards died in 1847 in Hawaii . His wife , Clarissa , survived him , however she remained in Hawaii for some time after her husband ' s death and it was agreed that Williston should adopt both Harriet and Lyman Richards . Clark ' s adoptive father - in - law , Samuel Williston , would prove to be an important sponsor to his career . Williston was Amherst College ' s primary benefactor , and a highly influential figure in western Massachusetts . William and Harriet Clark had 11 children , only 7 of whom survived to adulthood . Their eldest child and daughter , Emily Williston Clark , married F . W . Stearns , the son of prominent trader and department store owner R . H . Stearns . One of their sons , Hubert Lyman Clark , became a prominent zoologist . Civil War . Clark ' s academic career was interrupted by the Civil War . An enthusiastic supporter of the Union cause in the war , Clark took part in student military drill instruction at Amherst College and successfully recruited a number of students . In August 1861 , he received a commission of major in the 21st Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry . He served with the 21st Massachusetts for nearly two years , eventually commanding that regiment as lieutenant colonel in 1862 , and colonel from 1862 to 1863 . During its first months of service , the 21st Massachusetts was assigned garrison duty at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis , Maryland . In January 1862 , the regiment was attached to the Coast Division commanded by Major General Ambrose Burnside and embarked with the division for operations in North Carolina . Clark was placed in command of the regiment in February 1862 and led it in the Battle of New Bern on March 14 , 1862 . In that action , Clark garnered a reputation for bravery when the regiment charged a Confederate battery and he straddled an enemy cannon , urging his regiment forward . The gun was the first artillery piece captured by the Union Army during that engagement . It was presented by General Burnside to Amherst College in honor of Lieutenant Frazar Stearns , son of the president of Amherst College and adjutant of the 21st Massachusetts , who was killed in the battle . The cannon was mounted inside Morgan Hall at Amherst College . After the 21st Massachusetts was transferred to Northern Virginia in July 1862 , the regiment eventually became part of the Army of the Potomac and took part in several of the largest battles of the war including Second Bull Run , Antietam , and Fredericksburg . The regiment suffered its worst casualties during the Battle of Chantilly on September 1 , 1862 . In the confusion of the battle , fought in thick woods during a thunderstorm , Clark became separated from his regiment and wandered the Virginia countryside for four days before finding the army again . While he was missing , he was incorrectly listed as killed in action and an Amherst newspaper printed his obituary under the headline , " Another Hero Gone . " Clark ' s enthusiasm for the war waned considerably after the Battle of Fredericksburg during which the Union Army suffered severe casualties in repeated charges against a heavily fortified stone wall . In a January 1863 letter to a friend , Clark wrote that , although he still felt " the principles for which we fight are right and honorable , " he was " disheartened and dissatisfied " with the government and the army . By April 1863 , the numbers of the 21st Massachusetts had been so thinned by what Clark called the " cruel fate of war , " that the regiment had virtually ceased to exist and Clark ' s command was only nominal . He therefore resigned his commission and returned to Massachusetts . Massachusetts Agricultural College . The movement for an agricultural college in Massachusetts had begun as early as the 1830s , long before Clark became involved . The leaders of the movement included men such as Marshall Wilder , a prosperous Boston merchant and president of the Norfolk Agricultural Society , and Judge Henry Flagg French , who would become the first president of the Massachusetts Agricultural College . Their efforts met with little progress until the passage of the Morrill Land Grant Act in 1862 . Sponsored by U . S . Representative Justin Smith Morrill , the act allotted federal land in the West to each state . The proceeds from the sale of this land were to support the establishment of colleges " related to agriculture and the mechanic arts . " Massachusetts voted to take advantage of this federal program and established the Massachusetts Agricultural College in April 1863 . Proponents of agricultural education , including Clark , felt that scientific advances were bypassing farmers as a class . Clark lamented that farmers in Massachusetts had little access to higher education and that , consequently , the profession was degenerating economically and intellectually . As Clark wrote , In the good time coming , the refining , elevating , and strengthening influences of high intellectual and aesthetic culture will be considered as desirable in the agricultural profession as they are in medicine , law or theology . . . If practical farmers are to remain ignorant of all the higher branches of learning , and to have only the mental discipline and culture of the country public schools , they can never occupy their proper position in society . The farmer ' s " proper position in society " was in particular jeopardy in New England , according to leaders of the agricultural education movement . Increasing industrialization caused the population of mill towns to grow exponentially in the mid - 19th century at the expense of rural towns , many of which were left all but abandoned , especially in western Massachusetts . Adding to the crisis was the phenomenon of westward movement and the lure of cheap land in the Midwest . The agricultural education movement in Massachusetts , in reaction to this crisis , had highly moralistic tones . Clark criticized those who left New England , writing , " Will a wise man exchange the beautiful and diversified scenery of New England . . . Will he forsake the school and churches and the social privileges of prosperous communities for the semi - barbarous condition of newly and sparsely settled districts ? " Further , Clark warned that if the decay of rural Massachusetts continued , farming would soon be considered , " degrading in its nature , and designed . . . only for those poor , stupid , ignorant , or unfortunate persons . " Clark resigned his commission in the army one month after the MAC was voted into existence by the Massachusetts Legislature . When he returned to Amherst , he quickly sought involvement in the new institution and worked energetically to convince state authorities to locate the college in Amherst . Rival sites under consideration included Springfield , Lexington , and property owned by Harvard University in Roxbury . Elected to the Massachusetts Legislature in 1864 , Clark secured a bond for the Town of Amherst enabling it to contribute $ 50 , 000 to the construction of the college buildings . This ultimately swayed the trustees to choose Amherst . MAC went through two presidents in its first four years and by 1867 still did not have a faculty , nor students , nor finished buildings . Clark became president of the college in 1867 and immediately appointed a faculty and completed a plan for building construction . Clark ' s decisive management enabled the college to admit its first class of 49 students . In addition to being president , he was professor of botany and horticulture . Although initially regarded as a great success , the college saw poor enrollment over the course of the 1870s . Clark was particularly disappointed with the lack of support from the farming community , writing , " To one who understands fully the greatness of the work which has been done in Amherst … the utter indifference in regard to the college manifested by most of the 75 , 000 farmers of Massachusetts is truly astounding . " By the end of his presidency of MAC , Clark was falling under increasing criticism from the press and politicians in Boston . MAC , mounting an increasing debt , was declared a failure by some . Infuriated by what he called , " time - serving politicians and unprincipled newspapers seeking only to float on the tide of public opinion , " Clark resigned in 1879 . Clark was one of the commission of three , appointed by Massachusetts governor John Albion Andrew in 1863 , to consider the expediency of establishing a state military academy . He was a presidential elector in 1864 , and a representative to the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1864 – 1865 and 1867 . He was a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences , and a member of other scientific societies . Japan . In 1876 , Clark was invited by the government of Japan to establish the Sapporo Agricultural College , now Hokkaido University . Following the Meiji Restoration in 1867 , the new Imperial government of Japan set out upon a path of rapid modernization and recruited many European and American academics and military experts to help expedite the process . These men were referred to by the Japanese government as oyatoi gaikokujin or " hired foreigners " . Seeking a model agricultural college , Mori Arinori , the Japanese Minister to the United States , asked Horace Capron , Commissioner of the U . S . Department of Agriculture , for a recommendation . Capron recommended MAC . After visiting the college , Minister Mori later recommended Clark to the Japanese government as the ideal candidate to establish SAC . Clark signed his contract with the Japanese government on March 3 , 1876 , in Washington , DC . Due to inconsistencies in translation , discrepancies exist to this day as to what Clark ’ s official title was . According to biographer John Maki , the Japanese and English versions of Clark ’ s contract differed on this point . The Japanese version named Clark , " head teacher ( namely , assistant director ) . " Because of this , in Japan , Clark has been referred to as " assistant director " or sometimes " vice - president " of SAC . However , in the English version of the contract , " the word ‘ President ’ was inserted into the text and initialed by Yoshida Kiyonari ( the Japanese Minister to the United States at the time ) . " Regardless of title , Clark enjoyed the complete support of the Japanese government in organizing SAC and he exerted principal authority over the college while he was in Japan . Clark spent eight months in Sapporo from 1876 to 1877 . After enduring negative press in Massachusetts , he was pleased with the enthusiastic cooperation he received from the Japanese government . SAC was organized in just one month . Clark wrote to his wife , " I am actually rebuilding MAC . . . on the other side of the earth . " In establishing SAC , Clark introduced the first American model farm and barn in Japan and the first college military unit in the country . He also introduced new crops and new techniques in agriculture , fishing , and animal husbandry . Clark ’ s direct superior while working at SAC was the Governor of Hokkaido ( and future Prime Minister of Japan ) Kuroda Kiyotaka . The two men greatly respected one another and shared a bond in that they both had past military experience . Their positive relationship facilitated Clark ’ s many accomplishments while in Sapporo and accounted for the wide latitude Clark was given in implementing not just SAC programs , but also his influence on the colonial development of Hokkaido . Hokkaido represented the Japanese frontier at that time and with so much work to be done in colonizing the island , Kuroda welcomed and frequently implemented Clark ’ s advice . Clark submitted recommendations to the governor on such diverse subjects as converting migratory fisherman into permanent colonists and establishing a textiles industry . In fact , Clark himself was taken aback by the apparent scope of his influence on colonial affairs , writing to his wife , “ Governor Kuroda consults me constantly and always follows my advice . ” He later wrote , “ I tremble to think how much confidence is reposed in me and what responsibilities I am daily assuming . ” Clark not only had a significant impact on colonial development , but also had a powerful personal effect on the first students of SAC . The same rhetoric of ambition and personal elevation he had employed at MAC resonated more deeply with his Japanese students and , further , with a Japanese nation just emerging from a rigid feudal caste system . During classroom lectures , informal evening talks , and outings to collect botanical specimens , Clark discussed morality and urged his students to , " Be gentlemen . " Although the Japanese government prohibited the teaching of the Bible in government schools , Clark managed , after considerable effort , to secure approval from Kuroda to make use of the Bible during ethics instruction . In doing so , Clark introduced Christian principles to the first entering class of the college . They , in turn , influenced the students in the second class who enrolled after Clark ' s departure . In 1877 , 31 students of SAC converted to Christianity , signing a document drafted by Clark titled , " The Covenant of Believers in Jesus . " Some of them later played important roles in the fields of Christianity , education , and international relations during Japan ' s continuing modernization in the early 20th century . Alumni such as Uchimura Kanzō ( founder of the non - church movement , a Japanese Christian society ) and Nitobe Inazō ( Quaker , educator and diplomat ) , still known nationwide in Japan , were from the second entering class of the College . During his stay in Hokkaido , Clark examined the local flora and introduced new species of plants and trees from Japan to the United States . He sent to Massachusetts a large assortment of seeds , many of which proved of special value to his own state , on account of the high latitude from which they were selected . In Teine - ku , Sapporo , he discovered a new lichen on the side of Mt . Teine , at an elevation of , which was named " Cetraria clarkii " , in his honor , by Edward Tuckerman . On the day of Clark ' s departure , April 16 , 1877 , students and faculty of SAC rode with him as far as the village of Shimamatsu , then outside of Sapporo . As recalled by one of the students , Masatake Oshima , after saying his farewells , Clark shouted , " Boys , be ambitious ! " Several differing versions of Clark ' s parting words persist today including , " Boys , be ambitious , like this old man ! " and , " Boys , be ambitious for Christ ! " A painting of Clark ' s departure , rendered in 1971 , hangs in the Prefectural Capitol building in Sapporo and includes a lengthier version of his parting words , " Boys , be ambitious ! Be ambitious not for money or for selfish aggrandizement , not for that evanescent thing which men call fame . Be ambitious for that attainment of all that a man ought to be . " Later career . After his retirement from MAC , Clark became interested in a scientific floating college proposed by entrepreneur and real estate developer James O . Woodruff . This innovative concept attracted national attention and planning moved swiftly . Funds were procured and Clark was named President of the Faculty . Before the enterprise could get underway , Woodruff ' s sudden death caused the abandonment of the scheme . Following this setback , Clark decided to depart from academia and teamed up with John R . Bothwell in 1880 to form the Clark & Bothwell mining company . For Clark , mining was a logical extension of his background in chemistry and geology . Exactly how Clark became associated with Bothwell , a man of questionable character who had been cashiered from the U . S . Army for fraud , is unknown . As an academic , Clark was ill - prepared for a financial career . This , coupled with Bothwell ' s disreputable history , would result in a short life for the firm . The firm of Clark & Bothwell opened for business on March 10 , 1881 with offices at the corner of Nassau and Wall Street in New York City . The first mine in which the company became invested was the Starr - Grove silver mine , just south of present - day Battle Mountain , Nevada . By the end of 1881 the company , with Clark as President , was involved in seven silver mines , predominantly in Utah and California . Although focused on the American West , the company had far - reaching interests spreading from Mexico to Nova Scotia . The Satemo Mining Company of Tangier , Nova Scotia ( named by Clark after a Japanese word which , according to his translation , meant " all right " ) became a subsidiary of Clark & Bothwell in the summer of 1881 . The company was among the first involved in the Nova Scotia gold rush of that period . In managing these mines , Clark took an active role as President . He traveled thousands of miles , recommending improvements to mills and machinery and overseeing the improvements . Meeting initial success , the company ' s worth soon amounted to millions of dollars . The good fortune extended throughout the town of Amherst where , according to biographer John Maki , there was a " craze in mining stocks " as Clark ' s friends , family , and former academic colleagues became heavily invested in the company . There were also substantial investors in New York , Boston , Philadelphia and other cities . The first sign of serious trouble for the company came in March 1882 when the Starr - Grove mine shut down due to lack of profit and increasing debt . The stock values of Clark & Bothwell ' s various mines immediately plunged and were soon unsaleable . The first of what was to be several lawsuits for investment money lost was brought in April 1882 . The most damaging development came when one of the subsidiaries , the Stormont Mining Company , sued Clark & Bothwell for funds withheld from Stormont . It soon became apparent that Bothwell , as Treasurer , had mismanaged affairs at the company ' s New York office resulting in the firm ' s collapse . By May 1882 , Bothwell was en route to San Francisco and was never heard from again . The scandal was national news and the resulting lawsuits played out in New York and New England newspapers . Although Clark maintained that he had been " taken in " by Bothwell , his reputation in Amherst was nonetheless destroyed . The stresses of the scandal ruined Clark ' s health , and for the last four years of his life , Clark was largely confined to his home in Amherst due to heart disease . He died in Amherst on March 9 , 1886 and is buried in Amherst ' s West Cemetery . Legacy . Although he is almost forgotten in his home state of Massachusetts , Clark remains a national figure in Japan . His influences on the agricultural and economic development of Hokkaido were significant , but it is primarily his cultural message that still resonates today . According to historian Fumiko Fujita , Clark ' s phrase , " Boys , be ambitious ! " is " almost immortal in Japan . " The Japanese National Tourism Organization describes the slogan as " famous " and often quoted throughout the country . Historian John Maki wrote that many Japanese school textbooks " have carried brief accounts of [ Clark ' s ] work and his slogan " , and that Clark ' s name appears on " schools , buildings , shops , confections and countless tourist souveniers . " Clark ' s missionary activities produced the Sapporo Independent Christian Church in 1882 , founded by students of SAC . It was one of the first cells of Christianity in Japan after the Meiji Restoration . Eventually , ten of the signers of Clark ' s " Covenant in the Believers of Jesus , " raised funds to build the William S . Clark Memorial Church in Sapporo in 1922 . The church was demolished in 1962 , but rebuilt in another location and still houses the original " Covenant " as well as several Bibles Clark brought to Sapporo . In the United States , Clark ' s primary legacy is one of ongoing cooperation between the two colleges he founded , now the University of Massachusetts Amherst and the University of Hokkaido . Student and faculty exchanges were informal for many years until , according to journalist Daniel Fitzgibbons , the early 1960s when " the U . S . State Department contracted with the University to help strengthen the agricultural curriculum at Hokkaido . Through that program , 11 UMass faculty went to Sapporo and 52 Japanese faculty and students received advanced training in Amherst . " Both universities maintain exchange programs through various academic departments . In 1969 , Professor John H . Foster of the Center for International Agricultural Studies designated the collaboration between the institutions as " the oldest technical assistance relationship between a U . S . university and a foreign university . " In recognition of this fact , and of Clark ' s role in establishing the two colleges , the University of Massachusetts Amherst and the University of Hokkaido became sister universities in 1976 . On February 7 , 1990 , the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the prefecture of Hokkaido became sister states . One of the first public works of art in honor of Clark ' s legacy was a bust placed on the campus of the University of Hokkaido in 1926 commemorating the 50th anniversary of the establishment of SAC . The original bust was melted down during World War II , but reconstructed in 1947 . To mark the 100th anniversary of Clark ' s arrival in Sapporo , the statue of Clark at Hitsujigaoka observation hill was built in 1976 . Etched on the base of the statue are Clark ' s famous words , " Boys , Be Ambitious . " The site is a popular tourist destination . Finally , on the campus of the University of Massachusetts Amherst , the William Smith Clark Memorial , a stone and sculptural garden , was dedicated on October 17 , 1991 . It is located on the former site of Clark ' s house at the peak of Clark Hill . The memorial was designed by landscape architect Todd A . Richardson . Buildings named after Clark include Clark Hall at the University of Massachusetts Amherst , originally constructed in 1905 to house the Department of Botany , and the Clark Memorial Student Center , built on the campus of the University of Hokkaido in 1960 , the first and largest western - style collegiate student center in Japan . Works . Contributions to " Liebig ' s Annalen " : Papers contributed to the annual reports of the Massachusetts Board of Agriculture : In 1869 he translated Scheerer ' s " Blow - pipe Manual " for use at MAC .