At a meeting of the Faculty November 12th, 1836. Present: The Chairman and
all the Professors except Doctor Warner who was absent from the University.
The Chairman informed the Faculty that he communicated to the Captain of the Military Company, on the morning of the 10th instant, the resolution of the Faculty of the 9th instant which requires the members of the said corps to remove immediately the muskets in their possession; that a committee appointed by a meeting of said Company had handed to him the same night the following Resolutions:
“Resolved, 1st, that the company is not disbanded.
2nd, That the company will attend and drill as usual, what the Faculty may say to the contrary notwithstanding.
3rd, That every member of the company pledges his honor to stand by his comrades, and that action of the Faculty against one shall effect every individual”.
The Chairman further informed the Faculty that he had directed the Proctor to visit the rooms of the students composing the Company for the purpose of ascertaining whether they had complied with the requisition of the Faculty to remove their muskets, and that that officer had reported to him that Mr. Mordeiai Cooke was in possession of his musket and refused to remove it; that he had been informed by the Captain and other members of said corps that any action of the Faculty against Mr. Cooke would be considered as an action against the whole company, and in order that there may be a common action against all, the Proctor had been furnished with a copy of the company roll which is as follows:
Thomas L. Walker, Alexander Walker, Thomas H. Morris, R. D. Field, W. W. Boyce, Richard Chapman, Wm. C. Durkin, M.T.C.Johnston, J.W. Grigsby, M. Cooke, C.C. Watkins, H.F. Cooke, J.B. Marge, B.W.Belscher, John H. Lewis, W.E. Pegram, R.A. Inge, H. Boteler, W.T. Coltins, Richard Paxton, J. Briscoe, Wm. Horner, W. Boykin, J.A. Duncan, H.B. Tomlin, N. Burwell, Philip Hicky, A.K. Boyce, B.F. Eppes, J.L. Smith, J.H. Bowyer, Charles Carter, R.L. Brown, J.B. Baldwin, O.L. Battle, F.A. Briscoe, A.F. Blunt, L.B. Thornton,
Jos. D. Shields, John M. Sheppard, E.A. Shands, Carnot Posey, John Pratt, Walter Nangle, L.B. Marks, J. Marks, B.B. Minor, W.C. Knight, Thomas M. Isbell, J.M. Jackson, R.M. Scott, J.F. Newman, W.H. Harrington, J.M. Daniel, W.H. Mason, R.H. Long, W.H. Lowndes, Thomas B. Jordan, J.L. Dawson, John Dodson, J.E. Crichton, C.C.Cocke, J.J. Cocke, J.C. Field, C. Curtis, R.R. Carter, R.A. Clarke, James Chapman, George Wilson.
A motion was made seconded and passed that the foregoing students be sent for one by one.
The Janitor was thereupon cirected to summon Mr. Thomas L. Walker before the Faculty. This officer immediately returned and reported that the Captain had informed him that Mr. Walker was on parade and could not be spoken to.
The Proctor was then sent for and requested to take the roll and ascertain which of the students named on it were on parade and had muskets, and to inquire whether they determined to retain them. In obedience to which order, the Proctor soon after returned to the Faculty and reported that an officer of the company had called the roll carried out by him, in his presence, and that all the students on said roll except the following six, R.D. Field, M. Grigsby, B.W. Belschers, J.H. Lewis, Benjamin B. Minor, and J. Dodson, answered to their names and had muskets and that one of the students made a motion to the following effect:
“Resolved that we have our arms and intend to keep them”. Those in favour of this motion were requested to shoulder their muskets; it was carried unanimously, every man bringing his musket to a shoulder.
The Chairman then submitted the following resolution which was seconded and passed unanimously:
The entire Company previously listed with the exception of the afore-mentioned six having introduced firearms and other weapons within the precincts without lawful authority, and having avowed their determination to keep them in their possession within the precincts, notwithstanding the
enactments of the institution and the express prohibition of the Faculty, and it appearing that these offences are equally aggravated by the fact that they are the result of an illegal combination between the above named students; Therefore resolved unanimously that they be all dismissed from the University.
The Faculty then adjourned
J. A. G. Davis, Chairman
