Locating Slavery's Legacies @ Sewanee: The University of the South

Memorial Place

Flora (Trees or Gardens)

Lost Cause

Polk, Leonidas

Trees planted in memory of Leonidas Polk.

Two trees were planted on March 15, 1952, during the "Old South" weekend celebrations of the local chapter of Kappa Alpha fraternity.

The ceremony took place at the Kirby-Smith Memorial and honored the four Confederate generals who had taught at the University: Brig. Gen. Josiah Gorgas, Gen. Edmund Kirby-Smith, Lt. Gen. Leonidas Polk, and Brig. Gen. Francis A. Shoup. An anonymous alumnus and friend of the University donated the trees. The trees were planted, according to the student newspaper, "in honor of Bishop General Leonidas Polk" and on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the founding of the United States Military Academy at West Point, from which Polk graduated in 1827.

Acting Vice-Chancellor Edward McCrady delivered an address to the crowd more than 100. He described the generals as "'devout Christians with a high sense of duty' coupled with 'dignity, manliness and courtesy.'" He credited them with laying the foundation of the University's most cherished traditions: "its honor system and code of universal courtesy and dignified dress." He continued: "These are not traditions by accident, but were nurtured by these men and their colleagues. All these men shared a great dignity of bearing, a deep sense of duty, a devout religious attitude and an exceptional refinement of gentility and manners of speech."

The sole description states two trees.

Kappa Alpha Fraternity,

McCrady, Edward

Hughes, C. Joseph (President of the Kappa Alpha Order)

Martin, Abbott C. (Professor of English)

Myers, Rev. Dr. George B. (retired Professor of Theology at St. Luke's).

15 March 1952

1945-1976: Era of Civil Rights Movement and resistance to Civil Rights Movement

Kappa Alpha Fraternity and anonomous donor

University of the South; Sewanee, Tennessee

"Four Generals Honored at Old South Exercises," Sewanee Purple, March 19, 1952.