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