Early Leadership
Old LSU Site
| | Louisiana State Seminary & Military Academy | |
William Tecumseh Sherman, a graduate of West Point, was appointed the fist superintendent and a professor of engineering of the Louisiana Seminary of Learning & Military Academy.
In June of that year, General G. Mason Graham wrote to Major D.C. Buell, assistant adjunct general of the Army, in regard to a proper candidate for superintendent of the Seminary. Major Buell forwarded a prospectus of the Seminary to Sherman, who had recently resigned from 13 years of service in the U.S. Army to engage in the banking business. Upon reviewing the materials, Sherman applied to Governor Robert C. Wickliffe for the position. General Graham was the half brother of Sherman's former commanding officer in California, and this relationship is thought to have influenced Sherman's appointment as superintendent.
On February 25, 1860, following the seizure of the United States Arsenal in Baton Rouge, Sherman resigned his post at the Seminary and left Louisiana for Ohio. While Sherman was most notably known for his "March to the Sea" during the Civil War, he filed a standing request with the commander of the district that the Seminary would not be destroyed, and the building survived the war.
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Location. 31° 21.506′ N, 92° 26.225′ W. Marker is in Pineville, Louisiana, in Rapides Parish. It can be reached from Shreveport Highway (U.S. 71) south of Rigolette Road (State Road 1203), on the right when traveling north. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 2500 Shreveport Highway, Pineville LA 71360, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Regionally, this marker is in Central Louisiana and in Acadiana Cajun Country. It is also in the American South and specifically in the Deep South. Globally, it is in North America, a Gulf of Mexico state, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World, and the Anglosphere. Historically, it finds itself in what was once New Spain, the Viceroyalty of New France, the territory of the Mississippian Culture, the Louisiana Purchase, one of the Confederate States of America, and the Antebellum South.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker: The Seminary Building (within shouting
Credits. This page was last revised on October 20, 2023. It was originally submitted on December 5, 2017, by Cajun Scrambler of Assumption, Louisiana. This page has been viewed 379 times since then and 33 times this year. Photos: 1, 2. submitted on December 5, 2017.
