Civil War and Reconstruction in AlabamaFleming, Walter L. (Walter Lynwood)
History
Civil War and Reconstruction in Alabama
Fleming, Walter L. (Walter Lynwood)
Alabama -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865; Reconstruction (U.S. history, 1865-1877) -- Alabama
The Hospital for the Deaf and Dumb at Talladega and the Insane Asylum were
continued throughout the war by means of state aid, and after the collapse
of the Confederacy were not destroyed by the Federals.[592] La Grange
College, a Methodist institution at Florence, in north Alabama, lost its
endowment during the war, and after the occupation of that section by the
Federals was closed. After the war it was given to the state, and is now
one of the State Normal Colleges. In 1861, Howard College, the Baptist
institution at Marion, sent three professors and more than forty students
to the army. Soon there was only one professor left to look after the
buildings; the rest of the faculty and all of the students had joined the
army. The endowments and equipment of the college were totally destroyed.
Nothing was left except the buildings.
The Southern University at Greensboro kept its doors open for three years,
but had to close in 1864 for want of students and faculty. Most of its
endowment was lost in Confederate securities. After two years of war the
East Alabama College at Auburn suspended exercises. The buildings were
then used as a Confederate hospital. The endowment was totally lost in
Confederate bonds, and after the war the property was given to the state
for the Agricultural and Mechanical College, now the Alabama Polytechnic
Institute. The Catholic College at Spring Hill near Mobile, the Judson
Institute at Marion, a well-known Baptist College for women, and the
Methodist Woman's College at Tuskegee managed to keep going during the
war.[593] The student body at both male and female colleges was composed
of younger and younger students each successive year. In 1865 only
children were found in any of them.
In 1860 there were many private schools throughout the state. Every town
and village had its high school or academy. For several years before the
war military schools had been springing up over the state. State aid was
often given these in the form of supplies of arms. Several were
incorporated in 1860 and 1861. Private academies were incorporated in 1861
in Coffee, Randolph, and Russell counties, with the usual provision that
intoxicating liquors should not be sold within a mile of the school.
Charters of several schools were amended to suit the changed conditions.
These schools were all destroyed, with the exception of Professor
Tutwiler's Green Springs School, which survived the war, though all its
property was lost,[594] and two schools in Tuscaloosa. One of these, known
as "The Home School," was conducted by Mrs. Tuomey, wife of the well-known
geologist, and the other by Professor Saunders in the building later known
as the "Athenæum."[595]
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