This is the story, told by it former President, of a remarkable institution; one of the last reaming state -assisted military colleges in America. Beginning with the account of an aborted slave insurrection in June 1822, the author tells in detail of the city of Charleston, and of a later decision by the State Legislature to use the facility, as well as an arsenal in Columbia, to educate a corps of cadets and to train them for the defense of the state. Just before Commencement in 1861, the cadet corps, stationed on Morris Island, fired the first shots of the Civil War at the "Star of the West", a supply ship sent to relieve Ft. Sumter. A member of the first class to graduate after the war (1886), the author was immediately appointed an assistant professor and was thereafter a member of the faculty for 45 years. His personal involvement in every aspect of Citadel life during that time allowed him to include personal reminiscences that are both fascinating and poignant. He was appointed Superintendent (President) in 1908.