University of Alabama Corps of Cadets collection

In an effort to combat severe disciplinary problems (gunfights, riots, etc.), University of Alabama president, Landon Garland, lobbied and received permission from the state legislature in 1860 to transform the university into a military school. While many of the cadets who graduated from the University went on to serve in the Confederate Army during the Civil War, many felt that the school's status as a military academy led to its being virtually burned to the ground by Union troops under General John Croxton on 4 April 1865. Only four buildings survived the flames: the President's Mansion, the Gorgas House, the Old Observatory, and the Little Round Guardhouse.

After many attempts to reopen after the end of the war, the University finally reopened in 1871, but the military structure was discontinued about a decade after the school was officially opened to women in 1892.