Greeneville in Greene County, Tennessee — The American South (East South Central)

Tusculum College

President Andrew Johnson Museum & Library

By Don Morfe, July 30, 2013

1. Tusculum College Marker

Inscription. During the 1861 secession debates, Greene County was mostly Unionist, but Tusculum College students were divided. Before the June secession vote, then-U.S. Sen. Johnson spoke in Greeneville in support of the Union. Afterward, secessionist students burned Johnson in effigy and raised a Confederate flag over Old College. Confronted by a professor loyal to the Union, a student helped lower the flag, for which his classmates called him “Benedict Arnold.” The administration suspended classes, and students went home.

The college suffered during the war as both Federal and Confederate forces camped in and around the building. In July 1865, college trustees reported: “The late war has left Tusculum College in a deplorable condition—its enclosures are broken down, its library much wasted and abused and its chemical and philosophical apparatus broken and destroyed.” Another local institution, Greeneville College, suffered so much that its campus was sold for a mere $700 after the war and its library was sent to Old College. In 1868, the two schools merged as Greeneville and Tusculum College, using the rooms and facilities at Old College.

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The oldest college in Tennessee, Tusculum College is a significant part of the state’s Civil War occupation story. Old College, the only

By Don Morfe, July 30, 2013

2. Tusculum College Marker

building remaining from that era, was built in 1841. Greeneville resident Andrew Johnson donated to the building’s construction. He served as Tennessee’s military governor during the war and as President of the United States after President Abraham Lincoln’s assassination In April 1865. The Old College, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, now houses the President Andrew John Museum and Library.

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The campus community turned out for this 1875 photo, including students sitting in the windows. Courtesy Tusculum College Archives
Andrew Johnson, ca. 1860 — Courtesy Library of Congress

Erected by Tennessee Civil War Trails.

Marker series. This marker is included in the Tennessee Civil War Trails marker series.

Location. 36° 10.434′ N, 82° 45.768′ W. Marker is in Greeneville, Tennessee, in Greene County. Marker can be reached from Gilland Street 0.1 miles south of Erwin Highway (Tennessee Route 107), on the left when traveling south. Touch for map. The marker is located at the south end of the parking lot at the President Andrew Johnson Mansion. Marker is at or near this postal address: 67 Gilland Street, Greeneville TN 37745, United States of America.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within

President Andrew Johnson Museum & Library image. Click for full size.

By Don Morfe, July 30, 2013

3. President Andrew Johnson Museum & Library

4 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies. A different marker also named Tusculum College (about 600 feet away, measured in a direct line); John Gloucester (about 700 feet away); First Institution of Higher Learning West of the Allegheny Mountains (about 700 feet away); Samuel Doak House (about 700 feet away); Andrew Johnson National Historic Site (approx. 1.3 miles away); Henderson’s Station (approx. 1.7 miles away); Harmony House (approx. 3.7 miles away); Old Harmony Graveyard (approx. 3.7 miles away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Greeneville.

Also see . . . President Andrew Johnson Museum & Library. Tusculum College (Submitted on October 22, 2013.)

Categories. • Education • War, US Civil •

Credits. This page was last revised on June 16, 2016. This page originally submitted on October 22, 2013, by Don Morfe of Baltimore, Maryland. This page has been viewed 369 times since then and 31 times this year. Photos: 1, 2, 3. submitted on October 22, 2013, by Don Morfe of Baltimore, Maryland. • Bernard Fisher was the editor who published this page.