510 A SKETCH OF EDUCATION IN SOUTH CAROLINA. 



Their first military service was performed in drilling the Palmetto 

 Regiment previous to its departure for Mexico. From an unfinished 

 earth Avork on the 9th of January, 1861, a detachment of cadets fired the 

 first shotted gun of the war upon the Star of the West, as she was advanc- 

 ing to the relief of Fort Sumter. 



The service of the cadets in many fields from the beginning to tiie end 

 of the war are too well known and too highly cherished to need repeti- 

 tion here. 



Upon the evacuation of Cliarleston the Citadel was seized by Federal 

 forces, and was occupied as a garrison until 1878. On the 13th Septem- 

 ber, 1877, the survivors of the graduates met in Charleston and organized 

 with Gen. Johnson Hagood as President, and other ofRcers. Immedi- 

 ately thereafter a general meeting was held of all who had been connect- 

 ed with the institution, and steps were taken to secure the reopening of 

 the citadel. 



The Federal government claimed the Citadel as conquered property. 

 The State maintained that it was private property, and through Gov. 

 Hampton made application for its restitution. President Hayes declined 

 to act, but suggested an appeal to Congress. A bill was introduced in 

 the Senate of the United States to restore the Citadel to the State on con- 

 dition that a claim of $100,000 for rent and damages by fire be relin- 

 quished. The State refused these terms, and the bill was not passed ; 

 but the building was turned over to the State voluntarily, and was taken 

 possession of on 1st April, 1882. 



. In 1881, the legislature passed an Act authorizing the reopening of 

 the academy for the education of 68 beneficiary cadets (two from each 

 county) and as many pay cadets as could be accommodated without ex- 

 pense to the State. Ten thousand (^10,000) dollars were appropriated 

 for the repairs of the building, and five thousand for the expenses of the 

 current year, with the provision that these amounts should be refunded 

 out of the amount which may be received b}' the State from the general 

 government for rent. 



By direction of Gov. Hagood, Senator G. B. Lartigue, of Barnwell, as- 

 sumed control of the work of reopening, and had the building put in ex- 

 cellent condition. Bathing arrangements, ventilation, and general sani- 

 tary measures have been secured under his supervision. 



The library will be filled as rapidly as possible, and a reading room is 

 provided with newspapers and magazines for the use of cadets when not 

 on duty. An annual encampment will be held in August and Septem- 

 ber in different portions of the up-country, for military exercises and 

 practical instruction in surveying, engineering, mineralogy, geology and 

 other subjects. Military discipline will be used as a means to an end — 



