"M" is for Military Education

“M” is for Military Education. Since the antebellum period, southerners have regarded military education as an excellent way to instill self-discipline, integrity, patriotism, moral virtue, and a sense of civic duty in youths, particularly young men. The South Carolina Military Academy was founded in 1842 with two branches: Arsenal Academy in Columbia that evolved into a prep school and the Citadel in Charleston as a college. When Clemson Agricultural College opened in 1893, it instituted a military program. The land-grant institution now known as South Carolina State University established a strong military program for black youth in 1896. Although Clemson and South Carolina State moved away from the military in the twentieth century, both institutions have maintained strong ROTC programs. In the twenty-first century military education remains an established feature in the South Carolina landscape.