In 1826, at the age of 16 he entered Harvard and graduated among the top of his class in 1829. He was one of the "Class of 1829", made famous by Oliver Wendell Holmes. During Commencement exercises at Harvard in 1829 he participated in a conference on "Natural, Civil, Ecclesiastical, and Literary History, considered in relation to the Tendency of each to improve and elevate the Intellectual Faculty".
