My predecessor, Herbert Hucks Jr., of the class of 1934, served as a librarian and archivist at Wofford from 1947 to 1998, including 20 years as a part-time retired archivist. He compiled a list of various "little-known facts" about Wofford. I'll try to drop a few in every now and then, in the midst of various stories about Wofford people and events. Many of these facts come from the D. D. Wallace History of Wofford College, published in 1951.
On Wofford and the Civil War: "The first martyr in the Southern cause was William Maxwell Martin, a Wofford graduate of 1857, who had developed into a gifted poet as well as orator. His graduation speech, The Calico Flag, it was said, 'produced a sensation in its way beyond anything in the annals of the college.' He died February 21, 1861, of illness contracted from exposure on duty at Fort Moultrie, standing by his canon through the cold damp night."
Martin's father was a well-known South Carolina Methodist minister and Wofford trustee.
On the Confederate bonds: "The securities owned by the college at the close of the Civil War included $85,897 of Confederate bonds and certificates, $1,297 in Confederate money, and bank stocks of $17,525 par value, all of which was ruined by the war… It is correct, therefore, to say that the endowment was swept away by the war, although it was not all invested in Confederate bonds."
"At least 35 Wofford alumni died in the Civil War."
As Wofford is presently in a pattern of enrollment and faculty growth, it's interesting to note other times when the faculty grew. On the faculty's recommendation, in 1866, the trustees created a chair of history and Biblical literature, and elected A. H. Lester to serve as professor of history and Biblical Literature. They also voted to establish a divinity school to be conducted by Professors A. M. Shipp, Whitefoord Smith, and A. H. Lester. Apparently it continued only a few years and amounted to little except specializing in a few religious subjects. The point is interesting, however, that Wofford briefly had a divinity school.
Photo, above, of (left to right) Professors Whitefoord Smith, James Carlisle, David Duncan, A. H. Lester, Warren DuPre, and A. M. Shipp. This is the oldest faculty group photograph that I've found in the collection.