Indeed, VMI certainly offered "engineering" (the meaning of the term  changed
considerably even in the short time b/w, say 1840 and 1875) in the
antebellum era, along with the Citadel, but getting faculty anywhere was  problematic,
and many were imported.  Most famous in Virginia, probably  Claudius Crozet.
Most of home-grown can only be described as  autodidacts.  It's interesting to
note that one of the great engineering  feats in the history of the country
was done when there WERE no professional,  home-grown engineers: the Erie Canal.

As a side note, the land-grant schools were begun as ag schools; it was  only
later that the emphasis in many switched to engineering.

Jim Watkinson


James D. Watkinson
History Department
Virginia Commonwealth University



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