Troy Middleton's descendants file lawsuit against LSU, want military collection returned

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Descendants of the late LSU leader Troy H. Middleton filed a lawsuit Monday seeking return of his collection, which is being displayed at the LSU Military Museum, but also asked for money for being embarrassed by the university’s disavowal of him as a racist.

Though the lawsuit seeks monetary damages for "extreme humiliation and embarrassment," the Middleton family's attorney Jill Craft, of Baton Rouge, said the real point is to get back Troy Middleton's papers and memorabilia, rather than punish the LSU Board of Supervisors for its June 2020 decision to remove his name from the main library on the Baton Rouge campus because of statements and efforts Middleton made as LSU president from 1951 to 1962.

“It’s not as related to that as it is to the whole notion that LSU took a position to vilify General Middleton, said they wanted no reminders of him on campus and they said, ‘Come get your stuff,’” Craft said Monday. “If the family cannot peacefully retrieve their property, then obviously their entitled to (monetary) damages,”

The family arrived at the LSU A&M campus in Baton Rouge several times to collect the Middleton Collection, but couldn’t. LSU raised “several differing excuses” about why, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit was filed by Bingham Middleton Stewart, Emily Middleton Serrano, both of Baton Rouge, and Troy Houston Middleton III, of Mobile.

The family made arrangements to transfer the collection to the 45th Infantry Museum in Oklahoma City and formally asked on Feb. 23 for its return.

LSU responded on April 14, advising that the university, “would be keeping approximately one-half” of the collection.

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The list of Middleton items is 26 pages long. The items include a bayonet from 1917, a Russian saber, his Distinguished Service Medal, two bronze stars and a silver star. Also included is personal correspondence with iconic Generals George S. Patton, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and Omar Bradley along with huge collections photos, even a Christmas Card list from the war years.

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