Class Year
2017
Document Type
Blog Post
Publication Date
2-17-2016
Department 1
Civil War Institute
Abstract
My family-driven fondness for the Virginia Military Institute is not a secret. I actually have a vintage gridiron-inspired VMI bobble head doll, an inheritance from my great grandmother who was proud to see both her sons graduate from the Institute. While thinking about the Civil War history of VMI for an academic course, I was struck by a most obvious question: Why was Virginia allowed to rebuild the Institute, described by some as a factory for the mass production of Confederates, after its destruction in 1864? I considered the challenge an opportunity for engaging research, and I offer this as the first in a series of three posts focusing on the literal reconstruction of the Virginia Military Institute. My hope is to explore the challenges the Institute faced following the Civil War, examine how the Institute’s story reflects greater movements in the nation, and assess how the Institute functions and influences today. [excerpt]
Copyright Note
This is the author's version of the work. This publication appears in Gettysburg College's institutional repository by permission of the copyright owner for personal use, not for redistribution.
Recommended Citation
Sawyer, Kaylyn L., "The Literal Reconstruction of VMI: To Obliterate or Not to Obliterate?" (2016). The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History. 154.
https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/compiler/154
Included in
Military and Veterans Studies Commons, Military History Commons, Public History Commons, United States History Commons
Comments
This blog post originally appeared in The Gettysburg Compiler and was created by students at Gettysburg College.