The Battle For The University of Alabama : After The War

In the waning days of The War Between The States that occurred from 1861 through 1865, it became evident that after four years of fighting with fewer resources and fewer soldiers, that The South was crippled to its knees and a surrender was imminent. Nevertheless, a mere five days before General Robert E. Lee's surrender at Appomattox, General John T. Croxton led union troops in completing their march to The University of Alabama and burning it to the ground. Only four buildings were spared, the beautiful President's Mansion, the Gorgas House, the Round House, and the Observatory (which is now Maxwell Hall).

Some of the cadets at the university, which had been turned into a military institution at that time, faced General Croxton and his union troops when they arrived with their destructive intentions, but realizing the overwhelming odds, withdrew. Choosing to blow up the university's ammunition supply to keep it from falling into the hands of the union army and retreating, instead. It is this confrontation with an opposing army that people most often think of when they hear of "The Battle for The University of Alabama". However, what happened after this confrontation and the burning of the university is the subject of William Warren Rogers' lecture at The Alabama Department of Archives and History on Thursday, September 18th, 2025 at 12 o'clock, noon.

Part of the "Food For Thought Series", William Warren Rogers will give a presentation on September 18th, entitled "Reconstruction Showdown: The Battle for The University of Alabama, 1869-1861" . For after the university was at the receiving end of the union forces' pyromaniac war tactics, there remained the question as to what to do with the smoldering academic institution. Should the state let it remain a remnant of the past? Should the state reopen the university? If so, how? Should the state reopen the university at a different location? All of these unanswerable queries were very much on the university's president's mind at the time, Landon Garland.

Garland opted for reopening the university on October 01st, 1865. There were only four professors left, but he felt that together they could instruct 60 to 70 students. It was a noble thought on his part, but only one student showed up to enroll that day, Thomas Watts, the son of a former governor. The trustees then opted to close the university altogether, leaving Garland with the task of raising money to possibly reopen the institution of higher learning later in the future.

What ensued next was an extremely fierce political battle, reminiscent of current political trends, among the Republicans of the state and the Southern Conservatives. As the Republicans did not want the university to be led by any former Confederates. And the Southern Conservatives highly resented it when three Ohio radical natives were selected to be on the faculty of their southern school. With the editor of the newspaper in Tuscaloosa threatening the buckeye state professors to the extent of depicting them in a cartoon as hanging from a tree. The professors resigned.

The next couple of years featured a nonstop revolving door of presidents of the university and professors as they were continually run out of town. But, on April 05th, 1869, The University of Alabama reopened to welcome 20 students on campus. Only to have the Board of Regents vote to move the university out of Tuscaloosa - to a still to be decided location - in August of 1869. Yet, at last, in the spring of 1871, the board invited alumni from UA to attend the spring commencement, for The University of Alabama was still in Tuscaloosa in spite of their previous decision, and it was decided that the faculty would be selected by experience, not politics. And the president's salary was set at $5,000 with the professors earning $2,500.

It was under these new terms that The University of Alabama was finally able to officially re-open on October 04th, 1871. With Dr. Wyman providing the stabilizing influence that enabled the university to survive at that time and eventually prosper into the flagship National Championship winning university of the present day. The author of "The Battle for The University of Alabama: The Perilous Path of Higher Education in the Reconstruction South", William Warren Rogers, Jr. notes that other state universities in the South during the era of Reconstruction faced similar controversies as to what The University of Alabama went through, such as the University of North Carolina.

Luisa Reyes is a Tuscaloosa attorney, piano instructor, and vocalist.