Long Gray Lines: The Southern Military School Tradition, 1839-1915

By Rod Andrew Jr. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2001. viii, 169 pp. $29.95. ISBN 0-8078-2610-3.

Military virtue equates to civic virtue, and, by definition, good soldiers make good citizens. According to Rod Andrew Jr., "this idea preceded the existence of the Confederacy, drew sustenance from the Lost Cause, and persists today" (p. 62). In his examination of the southern military school tradition, Andrew seeks to reinterpret previous arguments by John Hope Franklin, Marcus Cunliffe, Don Higginbotham, and others. Viewing military traditions within their cultural and political contexts, he notes that the southern version of militarism encompasses honor, patriotism, civic duty, sacrifice, and piety. Moreover, military discipline inculcates positive character traits-bearing, courage, loyalty, and moral behavior. According to Andrew, professional officer training did not constitute the primary purpose of southern military schools. Rather, the South's military tradition found expression through southern culture, educational beliefs, and political ideology.

Between 1827 and 1860 more than one hundred military colleges, academies, and universities opened in the United States. Of those, ninety-six existed in slave states, whereas free states contained only fifteen. Andrew reports that during the Civil War "most southern military academies died with the Confederate armies" (p. 37). Nevertheless, the Redemption period brought many Confederate veterans back into leadership positions in politics, business, religion, and education. The legacy of the Civil War also generated a sense of religious fervor in blending martial and moral virtues. Legends, myths, and cultural notions redefined a sense of honor for the defeated South. "The legend of the Lost Cause," Andrew states, "and the virtuous Confederate citizen-warrior provided energy, vitality, and legitimacy for southern military education" (p. 6).

The real catalyst that revived military education in the postbellum South was the Morrill Land Grant Act of 1862, which granted to each state thirty thousand acres per congressional seat for the purpose of establishing agricultural and mechanical colleges. Land-grant institutions would focus on scientific agriculture and the practical sciences while providing a more democratic, inexpensive education. In addition, land-grant schools were required to incorporate some form of military tactical instruction in the curriculum. Many southern schools-Texas A&M, Arkansas, North Georgia, Auburn, Virginia Tech, Mississippi State, Clemson, North Carolina State, Louisiana State, and Tennessee-revived antebellum precedents and organized themselves on a military basis. Mimicking West Point, Annapolis, the Virginia Military Institute, and the Citadel, each of the newer institutions formed a corps of cadets, required male students to wear uniforms, instituted military drill, and subjected students to a system of military discipline.

Some southern black colleges followed suit, particularly after passage of the Morrill Act of 1890. Hampton Institute in Virginia, Florida A&M, South Carolina State, and Savannah State in Georgia adopted military education, but the advent of Jim Crowism thwarted many of their efforts. "Separate but equal" became the order of the day, but, in general, blacks received a "second-class education" in preparation for "second-class citizenship" (p. 103). White leaders, holding to beliefs of inherent black inferiority, supported militarism as the means for reforming behavior and correcting flaws in the subordinate race. Consequently, few black schools received firearms for close-order drill. The South's white-dominated society refused to arm black cadets lest they be forced to equip black soldiers and ultimately grant them full citizenship.

Andrew asserts that the southern military tradition blended militarism with liberalism. Promoting political and social equality, equal opportunity, and valor, militarism produced self-reliant, moral citizens who focused on civil rights, civic responsibilities, and defense of the public good. This depiction tends to blend the virtues of liberalism and republicanism, and such usage neglects historiographical distinctions between republican and liberal ideals of the nineteenth century. Within that context, republicanism connotes traditional values, a sense of community, and concern for the public good. On the other hand, liberalism focuses on the individual-both politically and economically. These definitions are critical in interpreting Andrew's thesis, and republicanism provides the better match for his argument.

Long Gray Lines offers a compelling argument and a convincing thesis. References to the cadets of the University of Alabama and Auburn University emphasize the impact of military education on those institutions and on the state. Students of Alabama or military history will find Andrew's research helpful in beginning more in-depth studies. Furthermore, detailed treatments of states and institutions, the black military experience, and student resistance combine to provide specific evidence and general context for this study of the southern military tradition.

JAMES SANDERS DAY

University of Montevallo

Copyright University of Alabama Press Apr 2003
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