The Citadel
The Citadel Military College of South Carolina is a public senior military college in Charleston, South Carolina, United States. Established in 1842, it is the third oldest of the six senior military colleges in the United States. The Citadel was initially established as two schools to educate young men from around the state, while simultaneously protecting the South Carolina State Arsenals in both Columbia and Charleston.
Academics at The Citadel are divided into six schools: Business, Education, Engineering, Humanities and Social Sciences, Science, and Mathematics. Bachelor's degrees are offered in 38 major programs of study with 55 minors. The military program is made up of cadets pursuing bachelor's degrees who live on campus. For traditional students, The Citadel offers non-military programs including 12 undergraduate degrees, 26 graduate degrees, as well as evening and online programs with seven online graduate degrees, three online undergraduate degrees, and three certificate programs. Approximately 1,495 non-cadet students are enrolled in Citadel Graduate College pursuing undergraduate and graduate degrees.
The South Carolina Corps of Cadets makes up half the student body of the school and numbers 2,226.
Cadet life is devised into a "class system" which focuses on the development of Cadets as both students and leaders. The Corps contains its own unique traditions, lexicon, and rank structures. One-third of graduates each year go into the armed services. All members of the Corps are required to participate in ROTC, with all branches' training programs being represented. The Citadel Bulldogs field 9 men's teams, 7 women's teams, and 1 mixed team at the NCAA Division I level.
Graduates of The Citadel's Corps of Cadets are known as "the Long Gray Line", modeled after the United States Military Academy tradition. Graduates of The Citadel Graduate College are considered part of the alumni organization, but with a distinct variant of The Citadel's class ring. Alumni of The Citadel include numerous generals, senators, athletes and writers. Two Medal of Honor and two Navy Cross recipients have attended The Citadel, and six alumni have risen to become state governors.
History
| Captain William F. Graham, USA | 1843–1844 |
| Major Richard W. Colcock, USA | 1844–1852 |
| Major Francis W. Capers, CSA | 1852–1859 |
| Major Peter F. Stevens, SCM | 1859–1861 |
| Major James B. White, SCM | 1861–1865 |
| Colonel John P. Thomas, CSA | 1882–1885 |
| BrigGen George D. Johnston, CSA | 1885–1890 |
| Colonel Asbury Coward, CSA | 1890–1908 |
| Colonel Oliver J. Bond, SCM | 1908–1931 |
| General Charles P. Summerall, USA | 1931–1953 |
| Colonel Louis S. LeTellier, SCM | 1953–1954 |
| General Mark W. Clark, USA | 1954–1965 |
| General Hugh P. Harris, USA | 1965–1970 |
| MajGen James A. Duckett, SCM '32 | 1970–1974 |
| LtGen George M. Seignious, USA '42 | 1974–1979 |
| MajGen Wallace Anderson, SCM | 1979 |
| VADM James B. Stockdale, USN | 1979–1980 |
| MajGen James Grimsley, Jr., USA '42 | 1980–1989 |
| LtGen Cladius E. Watts, USAF '58 | 1989–1996 |
| BrigGen Roger C. Poole, USAR '59 | 1996–1997 |
| MajGen John S. Grinalds, USMC | 1997–2005 |
| BrigGen Roger C. Poole, USAR '59 | 2005–2006 |
| LtGen John W. Rosa, Jr., USAF '73 | 2006–2018 |
| LtGen John B. Sams, USAF '67 | 2018 |
| Gen Glenn M. Walters, USMC '79 | 2018–present |
The Citadel traces its origins to an arsenal constructed by state authorities in South Carolina to defend white residents of Charleston, South Carolina against possible slave rebellions following Denmark Vesey's thwarted uprising of 1822. The school was founded by an act of the state legislature in 1842 as the South Carolina Military Academy and classes began at the Arsenal in 1843. It originally consisted of the Citadel Academy in Charleston and the Arsenal Academy in Columbia. The Arsenal was burned by General Sherman's forces during the American Civil War and never reopened. The Citadel Academy was occupied by Union troops in 1865 and reopened as an educational institution in 1882. During the Civil War, the SCMA Corps of Cadets was organized into a military unit known as the Battalion of State Cadets which took part in nine engagements. In January 1861, Citadel Academy cadets manning a battery on Morris Island fired the first shots of the conflict when they shelled the Union steamship Star of the West which was attempting to resupply Fort Sumter. In December 1864, the cadet battalion made up more than a third of a Confederate force that defended a strategic rail line during the Battle of Tulifinny. The Citadel was awarded nine battle streamers for service in the Civil War and is one of only five American colleges to receive a battle streamer for the participation of its student body in wartime service. The four other institutes are: VMI for the Battle of New Market, Florida State for the Battle of Natural Bridge, William and Mary for the Siege of Yorktown, and the University of Hawaii for the Hawaiian Islands Campaign.
In 1922, the school moved from its original location on Marion Square in downtown Charleston to a new campus on the banks of the Ashley River on the northwest side of the city. The Citadel has grown steadily from an enrollment of 460 to its present 3,500. During World War II, The Citadel had the highest percentage of any American college student body serving in the military and all but 346 of its living graduates were members of the armed forces. Alumni served as members of the Flying Tigers and Doolittle Raiders; 280 died in the service of their country. The first black cadet enrolled in 1966. The first woman to graduate from The Citadel, Maxine Hudson, received her degree from the graduate program in 1969. Maxine was a distinguished and beloved teacher in Charleston for over 50 years.
In 1971 the first Native American graduated. The first woman admitted to the Corps of Cadets program was Shannon Faulkner after a two-and-a-half-year court battle. She matriculated into The Citadel in 1995 with an otherwise all-male corps of cadets on August 15, 1995, but soon withdrew after she said she and her family received dozens of death threats and her parents' home was vandalized. In 1999, Nancy Mace, daughter of the Citadel's Commandant of Cadets, became the first woman to graduate from the Corps of Cadets program, receiving a degree in business administration. In 2018, The Citadel appointed Sarah Zorn the first woman to lead the South Carolina Corps of Cadets as Regimental Commander.
A graduate program was started in 1968. A major capital improvement campaign started in 1989 saw the replacement or extensive renovation of a majority of the buildings on campus, and academic offerings have been continuously expanded to offer in demand courses and degrees in fields such as Mechanical Engineering, Computer Science, Cybersecurity, Criminal Justice and Nursing. Citadel cadets and alumni have served in every United States military action from the Mexican War to the current global war on terrorism.