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 To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html