University of Nashville - Merger With Western Military Institute

Merger With Western Military Institute

In 1853, a new building was constructed at 724 Second Avenue in Nashville, and in 1854, the literary college re-opened. That year did not see great financial success. In 1855, Lindsley's son and successor John Berrien Lindsley merged the Western Military Institute and the University of Nashville, the former becoming that institution's complete collegiate program.

Modeled on the Virginia Military Institute, the Western Military Institute had about 150 students and seven professors at the time. It moved its entire operation from Georgetown, Kentucky, where it had operated since its founding in 1847, to Nashville. Students undertook a military curriculum, and were required to wear uniforms and conduct themselves in accordance with the rules of military law. A literary arts program was not offered during this period. Bushrod Johnson was a professor at the Western Military Institute from 1851 to 1855. He served as its headmaster when it moved to Nashville in the merger, and continued in that capacity until the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861. He served the Confederacy during the war as a general.

The University of Nashville ran the two educational institutions (the Western Military Institute -- a college program-- and the University of Nashville Medical Department) in Nashville from 1855 to 1861. It was during this period that Sam Davis attended the Western Military Institute; he was later called the "boy hero of the Confederacy", and hanged by Union forces as a spy in 1863.