History of The College of William & Mary - Civil War, Reconstruction, Becoming A State Institution

Civil War, Reconstruction, Becoming A State Institution

At the outset of the American Civil War (1861–1865), enlistments in the Confederate Army depleted the student body and on May 10, 1861, the faculty voted to close the College for the duration of the conflict. The College Building was used as a Confederate barracks and later as a hospital, first by Confederate, and later Union forces. The Battle of Williamsburg was fought nearby during the Peninsula Campaign on May 5, 1862, and the city fell to the Union the next day. The Brafferton building of the College was used for a time as quarters for the commanding officer of the Union garrison occupying the town. On September 9, 1862, drunken soldiers of the 5th Pennsylvania Cavalry set fire to the College Building, purportedly in an attempt to prevent Confederate snipers from using it for cover. Much damage was done to the community during the Union occupation, which lasted until September 1865.

Following restoration of the Union, Virginia was destitute from the War. The College's 16th president, Benjamin Stoddert Ewell finally reopened the school in 1869 using his personal funds. He later sought war reparations from the U.S. Congress, but he was repeatedly put off. Ewell's request was finally honored, and Federal funds were appropriated, but not until 1893. Meanwhile, after some years of struggling, the College closed in 1882 due to lack of funds.

It has become legendary that, every single morning of that long seven-year period, President Ewell would arise and ring the bell calling students to class, so it could never be said that William and Mary had abandoned its mission to educate the young men of Virginia.

In 1888, William & Mary resumed operations under a substitute charter when the Commonwealth of Virginia passed an act appropriating $10,000 to support the College as a state teacher-training institution. Dr. Ewell, who had grown quite old and spent much of his private financial resources to keep the College alive, was finally able to retire, with the future of his beloved College on a new and more stable course again. He was no doubt honored and satisfied that former U.S. President John Tyler's son would be taking the reins.