Cumberland University

Drawing of Cumberland University, c.1858 Memorial Hall, 1918 1842–1861 The university was founded by the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in 1842 and received its Tennessee state charter in 1843. In 1847 Cumberland Presbyterian church leaders added a law school , the first in Tennessee and the first west of the Appalachian Mountains , and in 1854 a school of theology was begun. The original building, designed by Philadelphia architect William Strickland , housed schools of art, law and theology.

The Civil War nearly destroyed Cumberland University. University Hall was burned to the ground by Confederate forces under the command of General Joseph Wheeler . Cumberland alumni William E. Ward wrote on a ruined Corinthian column the Latin phrase Ex Cineribus Resurgam (From the ashes I will arise). The university thereafter adopted the mythical phoenix as its symbol. By 1866, just one year after the war's end, all departments were again operating in various locations in the town of Lebanon. Following the war, the university's faculty included former Confederate general A. P. Stewart , who taught there during his post-Civil War Union parole. [ 3 ] Students included former Confederate general George Washington Gordon .

During World War II , Cumberland University served as the headquarters for the Tennessee Maneuver Area , a training area for the Second Army whose geography resembled that of Belgium , France , and Germany . Over 850,000 soldiers participated in the seven training exercises conducted in the area. [ 4 ] [ 5 ]

After World War II, Cumberland experienced several changes in sponsorship and programs. In 1946, the Tennessee Baptist Convention assumed control of the school, ending a century of operation by the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. [ 6 ] An attempt to merge Cumberland University and Tennessee School for Women during this period ultimately proved unsuccessful. [ 7 ] In 1951, the Tennessee Baptist Convention closed the College of Arts and Sciences and operated only the School of Law. [ 6 ] In 1956, the Board of Trust secured an amendment to the Charter and changed Cumberland to a private, independent corporation. The College of Arts and Sciences was reopened as a two-year junior college , known as Cumberland College of Tennessee. In 1962, the assets of the School of Law were transferred to Howard College, now known as Samford University , in Birmingham, Alabama ; the law school is now known as the Cumberland School of Law .