The Redeemers, the Lost Cause and Clemson College
The young men who stepped on Clemson College’s campus were just one generation removed from a people who had seceded from the United States and formed a new nation determined to protect the institution of slavery. The bloodshed and horrors Southern families faced shook the foundations of the South economically and culturally. According to research done by Provost Marshal General James Fry in 1866, approximately 18,000 South Carolinian men died fighting for the Confederacy.[1] Although the violence of the Civil War had concluded, in 1889 both the wars horrifying reminisces, and religious-like gallantry remained. Former Confederate dignitaries inserted themselves back into every important aspect of Southern life including education. During the formation of Clemson College, four of the seven lifetime trustees selected in Thomas Clemson’s will served in the Confederate Army.[2] These men sought to “redeem” the South from the political motivation of the African American controlled Republican Party and perpetuate a notion of honor, valor, and Christ-like sacrifice to those who served the Confederacy and faced “tyrannical North.” This ideology would become known as the ‘Lost Cause,’ and it would be embraced by almost every white Southerner regardless of social class.
Clemson cadets, from “preps to seniors” held tightly to the idea of the ‘Lost Cause.’ Cadets would frequently participate in memorials, funerals, and events that honored the Confederacy and its cause. In the early years of Clemson College, presidents and administration were plagued with frequent instances of insubordination that included strikes, walk-outs, and demonstrations by cadets. One could claim that these acts were the result of immaturity and fraternization, but these boys, specifically Southern boys, were ingrained in the sense of Southern rebellion that dated back to heroics of their great grandfathers in the War for Independence and their fathers in the “War for Southern Independence.” To these boys, insurrection against injustice was honorable and necessary, and as the ‘Lost Cause’ drifted down the Southern countryside, Clemson cadets found a sense of influence in its ideology. The cadets actions represented how heavily fixated the doctrine of Southern secession and rebellion were in their upbringing. The walkouts and strikes of the boys of Clemson were second nature, a cultural norm that was merely just a noble emulation of previous generations that stood in rebellion against a superior, and what Southerners deemed ‘unjust’ force.
[1] “Civil War Casualties | American Battlefield Trust.”
[2] Reel, The High Seminary, 64.