Military History

Military service has been a part of Furman almost from the beginning. After the founding of the school in 1826, the faculty finally approved the formation of a military company led by military trained faculty for students above the age of 16 with parental permission in March of 1856. We know that students served in the Civil War, both World Wars, and the different conflicts that have led to our current war in Iraq. (Picture: John Plyler, WWI)

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Is there a memorial to those men who fought and died during the Civil War on campus, or a list of their names?

Decorative & Fine Arts Committee said...

Sadly there is not a memorial to the students and professors that participated in the Civil War. Whether this is because they fought for the Confederacy or not I am unaware of. There is also no complete list of their names. I did find a report from 1861 that mentioned a few people that had left school to go to VA to fight but for the most part there is a gap of records during the war years. For more information come visit us in Special Collections and Archives.

Decorative & Fine Arts Committee said...

I just wanted to amend my earlier response. We do have a list of Furman students that served in the Civil War as well as where they served and in what capacity. There is also a very interesting essay about the Rifleman's role in the "War for Southern Independance." Please contact Furman University Special Collections and Archives for more information.