William Porcher DuBose William Porcher DuBose ( April 11 , 1836 – August 18 , 1918 ) was an American priest and theologian in the Episcopal Church in the United States . He spent most of his career as a professor at the University of the South in Sewanee , Tennessee . He is remembered on August 18 on the Episcopal Calendar of " Lesser Feasts and Fasts " . His middle name , " Porcher " , is pronounced as if it were spelled " por - shay " . Early Life Through the Civil War . In 1836 , William Porcher DuBose was born near Winnsboro , South Carolina into a wealthy Huguenot family that had been in the Midlands of South Carolina since 1686 . He grew up on the family plantation near Winnsboro . DuBose began his education at Mount Zion College in Winnsboro . From there , at age 15 , DuBose entered the South Carolina Military College , The Citadel , in 1851 . By his final year ( 1855 ) , he was the ranking officer and the Assistant Professor of English . He graduated from The Citadel in 1855 . It was at The Citadel that DuBose experienced his " conversion experience . " He wrote : I lept to my feet trembling , and then that happened that I can only describe by saying that a light shone about me and a Presence filled the room . At the same time , ineffable joy and peace took possession of me which it is impossible to either express or explain . In 1856 , DuBose entered the University of Virginia . He graduated from that institution with a Master of Arts in 1859 . Later that same year , he entered the South Carolina diocesan seminary in Camden , South Carolina . It was during DuBose ' s seminary studies that the American Civil War broke out . Civil War service . DuBose signed up with South Carolina ' s Holcombe Legion , and was appointed as the adjutant of the legion . The legion saw action at the Second Battle of Manassas , where DuBose was injured twice . For a portion of 1862 , DuBose was a prisoner of war . He was then wounded once more , in December of the same year . In 1863 , through family friends and church contacts , a commission was obtained for DuBose as a chaplain . He was ordained in December 1863 , and joined Kershaw ' s Brigade as its chaplain in Greeneville , Tennessee . Career as a Priest & Theologian . After the war , DuBose served St . Stephen ' s Episcopal Church near his home of Winnsboro . While there , he also taught Greek at nearby Mt . Zion College . In July 1871 , DuBose ' s name was given to the Board of Trustees of the University of the South by Vice - Chancellor Charles Todd Quintard , to serve as Chaplain of the School and Professor of the School of Moral Science and the Evidences of the Christian Religion . DuBose served as Chaplain of the school from 1871 - 1883 ( he was succeeded by Thomas Frank Gailor ) . Among his work at the University of the South , DuBose helped to establish the Theological Department , which would later be known as the School of Theology at the University of the South . He served as professor in the Theological Department from 1877 - 1893 . In 1894 , DuBose was elected as Dean of the Theological Department , a position he held until 1908 . Marriages and family . On April 30 , 1863 , William Porcher DuBose , married Anne Barnwell Peronneau , who died in December 1878 . He later married Maria Louise Rucks Yerger . Death . William Porcher DuBose died in Sewanee in 1918 and is buried there .