re: Who was first? Clemson/LSU?

Did that disprove the Clemson precedent? No, I don't believe it did.

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LSU started in New Orleans???

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The civil war artillery unit which was referred to as "Lee's Tigers" or "Louisiana Tigers" is where our mascot came from. There were "Louisiana Tigers" before there was a school named
LSU.

The Louisiana Agricultural and Mechanical College was based in New Orleans, as well, before it merged with Louisiana State University.

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I thought LSU started in Pineville?

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At the current site of the VA hospital in Pineville, to be exact.

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The school tried to operate in Pineville through 1863, during the unpleasantness, but the yankees' Red River campaign forced closure in April of 1863.

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"The unpleasantness" - you mean the war? Hadn't the war already started by then? Were they training Union or Confederate officers at the time?

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(April 23) Seminary closes after invasion of Red River Valley by Federal forces under Gen. Banks. Military equipment donated to Confederate Army, but library and other items destroyed by order of Gen. T. Kirby Smith of the U. S. Army. Structure saved thanks to Gen. W. T. Sherman.

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Why would the Federal troops donate military equipment to the Confederate Army

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The school tried to operate in Pineville through 1863, during the unpleasantness, but the yankees' Red River campaign forced closure in April of 1863.

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I had to chuckle at "during the unpleasantness." I haven't heard the civil war years referred to as that in years.

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I hate that General Sherman was the first. Bastid!

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There is actually a little memorial dedicated to William T. Sherman on the present day LSU campus. Not many people know where it is, but when I bring people to the LSU campus I point it out. Mostly because most people dont realize that the villian of the war of nothern aggression had ties to the south.

Louisiana "Tigers"

Where did the nickname come from?

Major Chatham Roberdeau Wheat:

LINK

Commander 1st Special Louisiana Infantry Battalion

In 1861 Major Wheat hearing the call of the guns once again, left Italy where he was in service with Giuseppe Garibaldi to come back to his adopted home of Louisiana to from a unit for service of the state.

His unit was formed around a corps of Walker, and Cuban veterans; who had saw service in those small wars. Major Wheat had been a Captain in the Mexican War, appointed Captain once again by Walker, then Colonel by Narciso Lopez and finally Brigadier General Juan Álvarez.

Major Wheat’s unit was a small Battalion with the nucleus of the following companies:

The Walker Guards company A

Old Dominion Guards company E/D

The Tiger Rifles company B

The Delta Rangers company C

To which was quickly added:

The Rough and Ready Rangers E

The Catahoula Guerrillas company D

It’s the Tiger Rifles that the unit got its name, as that unit wore a very easy to spot uniform on the field of battle (see link):

LINK

I have Major Wheat’s autograph in my collection, he was burred by David French Boyd and Col Stafford and 6 of his Tigers, after he was killed in battle.

David French Boyd’s brother is Thomas Boyd both head of LSU at one time.

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intended to be a school patterned on the United States Military Academy (West Point).

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My guess would be VMI, not West Point.

"The supervisors focused on the two schools of greatestest interest to the board-Virginia Military Institute, with its military tradition, and the University of Virginia, which took a more classical approach to education. Once determining its direction, the board could then seek suitable candidates for its first president of the faculty.

By the second meeting in May 1859, the board had heard from the two Virginia colleges. Board members were split over which model to adopt. But Graham favored VMI, and, with the governor's backing, he prevailed."

Source: Under Stately Oaks, A Pictorial History of LSU. Louisiana State University Press 2002

Under Stately Oaks

This book is a "must read" for all interested in the history of LSU. It is published by our own LSU Press!

LSU Press

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Why would the Federal troops donate military equipment to the Confederate Army

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I was confused by the reference to a "T. Kirby Smith", as a USA General myself. Certainly from 1863 and after, CSA General "E. Kirby Smith" was one of, if not the, senior confederate generals west of the Mississippi. The Confederate Kirby Smith is of course the namesake of the residence hall at LSU. The fact that he would try to deprive union forces of property makes more sense than the reference at the LSU Library webpage.