Rev. Naphtali Daggett (September 8, 1727 - November 25, 1780) graduated from Yale in 1748 and became pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Smithtown, Long Island in 1751. In 1756 he became professor of divinity at Yale.
He became the second president of Yale pro tempore on the resignation of its first president, Thomas Clap, in 1776, and served in that position until 1777.
When the British attacked New Haven, Connecticut in 1779, Rev. Daggett took up arms in defense but was taken prisoner, and was forced to serve as a guide. He was bayonetted by his captors and died of his wounds.
Benjamin Gale, son-in-law of Jared Eliot, a Corporation member, had published a pamphlet arguing for discontinuation of the colonial grant to the college, and no grant was given in 1755.
Clap set out to raise an endowment for a professorship of divinity, and NaphtaliDagget was appointed the Livingstonian Professor of Divinity on March 4 1756.
Noyes offered to share his pulpit with the new professor, agreeing to subscribe to the Assembly's Catechism and the Savoy Confession of Faith, and the students returned to his First Church for worship.
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