The Civil War changed the dynamic of the University significantly.The idea of Southern secession had been offered around Grounds through debates of both the Washington and Jefferson Societies, who both voted to secede in case of Lincoln's election in 1860. And not only did the debating societies take secession seriously, but the student body as a whole formed two military companies, the Sons of Liberty and the Southern Guard, to signify its sincerity for the South.
The Board of Visitors also rallied to the Confederate cause. On May 27, 1861, the Board asserted that the University would share the skills of Chemistry Prof. Socrates Maupin (Maupin house) and all of its chemical resources with the Confederacy. The Board also let the University become a quasi-Confederate hospital by the summer of 1862. The wounded that came in to Charlottesville were housed in all of the rooms of the Academical Village. But throughout it all the University still welcomed new students for the academic year. The 1862 school year, the height of the University's function as a hospital after the First Battle of Bull Run, saw an attendance of only 46 students, the lowest since the University's inception year. Until the end of the Civil War, the Grounds had the duality of hospital and University.
By early March 1865, Gen. Philip H. Sheridan's troops were approaching the University, threatening to destroy the finest university in the southern states. All of the University knew their intentions and decided quickly to wave the flag of truce. On the site of Alderman Library, a selected committee of Maupin, Prof. John Minor (Minor Hall) and Rector Col. Thomas Preston (Preston Avenue) met General George Custer (Custer's Last Stand) and sought protection from both his and Sheridan's destruction. Custer granted protection, and two days later, Gen. William T. Sherman came to Charlottesville to inspect for contraband. Having found nothing after four days of inspection, Sherman and all of the Union troops left Charlottesville, headed south, and recommenced their devastating path, having spared the University.
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