There actually were quite a few southern schools that offered some type of
engineering instruction before the Civil War.  VMI and the Citadel were
modeled on West Point, of course, and were the premier engineering schools
in the south, along with the Naval Academy in Annapolis.  But many
traditional colleges offered at least some engineering instruction, if not
degrees.  William and Mary in 1835 hired John Millington to teach math and
surveying.  In 1836, he began teaching civil engineering courses and W&M had
a "school of engineering" until 1839, and Millington continued to teach
engineering courses after that time.  Millington wrote one of the earliest
civil engineering textbooks, Elements of Civil Engineering, while he was at
W&M.  He was wooed away from W&M by the University of Mississippi in 1848.
According to Terry Reynolds, ""The Education of Engineers in America before
the Morrill Act of 1862," in the History of Education Quarterly, vol. 32
(1992): 455-482, other southern schools offering engineering courses include
the University of Virginia (1820s), University of Alabama (1830s),
Georgetown College in Kentucky (1830s), University of Georgia (1830s),
Eastern Tennessee College (1840s), University of Maryland (1840s), and the
University of North Carolina (1850s).  I doubt that list is exhaustive;
they're just the ones mentioned in the article.  The Panic of 1837
apparently killed off some of the nascent engineering programs.



Bea Hardy



Beatriz B. Hardy, Director

Special Collections Research Center

Earl Gregg Swem Library

College of William and Mary


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