page_title: University of South Carolina
section_title: Civil War and Reconstruction
hierarchical_section_title: University of South Carolina / History / Civil War and Reconstruction
caption_attribution_description: English: The Horseshoe, the original campus of the University of South Carolina, cropped from a bird's-eye map of Columbia, South Carolina drawn in 1872
context_page_description: The University of South Carolina is a public research university in Columbia, South Carolina. It has seven satellite campuses throughout the state and its main campus covers over 359 acres in downtown Columbia not far from the South Carolina State House. The university is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities with Highest Research Activity". It also houses the largest collection of Robert Burns and Scottish literature materials outside Scotland, and the world's largest Ernest Hemingway collection.
  Founded in 1801 as South Carolina College, Columbia is the flagship institution of the University of South Carolina System and offers more than 350 programs of study, leading to bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees from 14 degree-granting colleges and schools. The university has a total enrollment of approximately 52,000 students, with over 35,000 on the main Columbia campus as of fall 2019, making it the largest university in South Carolina. USC also has several thousand future students in feeder programs at surrounding technical colleges. Professional schools on the Columbia campus include business, engineering, law, medicine, pharmacy, and social work.
context_section_description: Seventy-two students were present for classes in January 1862 and the college functioned as best it could until a call by the Confederate government for South Carolina to fill its quota of 18,000 soldiers. A system of conscription would begin on March 20 for all men between the ages of 18 and 45, but many students at the college volunteered for service. Despite the depletion of students, the professors issued a notice that the college would temporarily close and would reopen to those under 18 years old. When the college reopened on March 17, only nine students showed up for classes.
  On June 25 with the consent of the state government, the Confederate authorities took possession of the college buildings and converted them into a hospital. After many unsuccessful attempts to reopen the college, the trustees passed a resolution on December 2, 1863, that officially closed the college. By February 1865, Sherman's army had reached the outskirts of Columbia and the college was spared from destruction by the Union forces because of its use as a hospital. In addition, a company of the 25th Iowa Volunteer Infantry Regiment was stationed at the campus on February 17 to protect it from harm and to thwart off pillaging Yankee soldiers.
  The Union army took possession of the college on May 24, 1865, and although the future for the college appeared bleak with it under military control, General John Porter Hatch sent a letter on June 19 to the remaining professors at the college that it should reopen as soon as possible. The appointment of Benjamin Franklin Perry as provisional governor of South Carolina on June 30 by President Andrew Johnson restored civilian rule to the state. Perry reinstated the trustees to their positions and the board met on September 20 to authorize the college to reopen on the first Monday of January in 1866. In a message to the legislature in October, Perry sought to convert the college into a university because with the state in an impoverished situation, it would provide a more practical education. Little opposition developed to change the college into a university and bill to establish the University of South Carolina was passed by the General Assembly on December 19, 1865.
  The University Act of 1869 reorganized the university and provided it with generous financial support. An amendment was added to the act by W. J. Whipper, a black representative from Beaufort, that would prevent racial discrimination from the admissions policy of the university.  The legislature further proved its seriousness towards racial equality by electing two black trustees to the governing board of the university on March 9, 1869. A normal school was established by the legislature on the campus of the university as well as a preparatory school since most of the black students of the state were ill-prepared for the academic work required at a university. In addition, to encourage enrollment by blacks, tuition and other fees were abolished. On October 7, 1873, Henry E. Hayne, the Secretary of State of South Carolina, became the first black student when he registered for the fall session in the medical college of the university.
caption: An 1872 aerial illustration of the University of South Carolina Horseshoe
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