Tag: Citadel (Charleston SC)

Wikipedia says: The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina, commonly known simply as The Citadel, is a public senior military college in Charleston, South Carolina. Established in 1842, it is one of six senior military colleges in the United States.

…The Citadel traces its origins to an arsenal constructed by the state of South Carolina to defend white Charlestonians against possible uprisings of enslaved people following the thwarted Denmark Vesey rebellion of 1822. The school was founded by an act of the state legislature in 1842 as the South Carolina Military Academy it originally consisted of the Citadel Academy in Charleston and the Arsenal Academy in Columbia. The Arsenal was burned by General Sherman’s forces during the American Civil War and never reopened. The Citadel Academy was occupied by Union troops in 1865 and reopened as an educational institution in 1882. During the Civil War, the SCMA Corps of Cadets was organized into a military unit known as the Battalion of State Cadets which took part in nine engagements. In January 1861, Citadel Academy cadets manning a battery on Morris Island fired the first shots of the conflict when they shelled the Union steamship Star of the West which was attempting to resupply Fort Sumter. In December 1864, the cadet battalion made up more than a third of a Confederate force that defended a strategic rail line during the Battle of Tulifinny, The Citadel was awarded 9 battle streamers for service in the Civil War and is one of only 5 American colleges to receive a battle streamer for its students participation in wartime service.