North Carolina Polytechnic Academy, founded as Hillsborough Military Academy and also known as North Carolina Military Academy, was a school in Hillsborough, North Carolina. Col. Charles C. Tew CSA founded Hillsborough Military Academy. He was later killed in action at

Battle of Antietam The Battle of Antietam (), or Battle of Sharpsburg particularly in the Southern United States, was a battle of the American Civil War fought on September 17, 1862, between Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia and Union G ...

in 1862 on the eve of his promotion to

brigadier general Brigadier general or Brigade general is a military rank used in many countries. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries. The rank is usually above a colonel, and below a major general or divisional general. When appointed ...

. Architect John A. Kay designed the Hillsborough Military Academy barracks building and commandant's house. Edmund Strudwick was the doctor for the Hillsborough Military Academy in the 1860s and cared for soldiers wounded in the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

at his home nearby.The Hillsborough Military Academy
/ref> The commandant's house is a two-story, roughly square, castellated brick building in the

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

style. It is three bays wide and three bays deep and has rectangular turrets at each corner. After the war the school was run by Colonel White and then General

Raleigh E. Colston Raleigh Edward Colston (October 1, 1825 – July 29, 1896) was a France, French-born United States, American professor, soldier, cartographer, and writer. He was a controversial Brigadier General (CSA), brigadier general in the Confederate S ...

. The curriculum was revised in 1867 to include civil courses. The North Carolina state legislature changed the name to the North Carolina Military and Polytechnic Academy and established a program in which eight students could attend the school free of charge in return for two years of teaching in the state. This last reincarnation of the Military Academy was a failure and General Colston relocated to Wilmington, North Carolina in 1868. In 1872 Paul C. Cameron purchased the Academy buildings and in 1874 convinced James H. Horner of the Horner School and Ralph H. Graves of the

Graves School A grave is a location where a dead body (typically that of a human, although sometimes that of an animal) is buried or interred after a funeral. Graves are usually located in special areas set aside for the purpose of burial, such as gravey ...

in Oxford, North Carolina to "remove to the Military Academy buildings". The new school also failed two years later due to the illness of Horner and the death of Graves. The Cameron family sold the property to the Farmers’ Alliance in 1895 and it was sold to a developer in 1919. The barracks and outbuildings were dismantled and the bricks used the construction of other buildings. The headquarters building became part of the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1972 and became a private residence known as the "Commandant’s House" while the academy's chapel remains in use as a parish of The United Episcopal Church of North America.North Carolina Polytechnic Academy
Gone But Not Forgotten; North Carolina's Educational Past University of North Carolina Libraries

References

*Image of the school in "North Carolina Military and Polytechnic Academy," in the North Carolina Military and Polytechnic Academy Ephemera Collection, North Carolina Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. VC378.9 M67 Military. * Jean B. Anderson ''North Carolina Military Academy'' In Encyclopedia of North Carolina, ed. by William S. Powell. Chapel Hill, N.C.: University of North Carolina Press, 2006. 820-821 pp. * Charles Lee. Smith ''The History of Education in North Carolina'' Washington: Government Printing Office, 1888. 138 p. * Photographs of Hillsborough Military Academy in the North Carolina State Archives, Office of Archives and History Photograph Collection Series. Box: Photographs Received 1958. Folder: Photographs Received in September, 1958. Call number: N.58.9.6. * View of Hillsborough Military Academy, Hillsborough, ca. 1860 in the North Carolina State Archives, Office of Archives and History Photograph Collection Series. Box: Photographs Received 1992. Folder: Photographs Received in September, 1992. Call number: N.92.9.17. * Copy of the letterhead of Hillsborough Military Academy from a letter dated August 8, 1865 to Vance from William M. Gordon in the North Carolina State Archives, Office of Archives and History Photograph Collection Series. Box: Photographs Received 1986. Folder: Photographs Received in June, 1986. Call number: N.86.6.49. {{National Register of Historic Places in North Carolina Education in Orange County, North Carolina Defunct universities and colleges in North Carolina Defunct United States military academies Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in North Carolina Gothic Revival architecture in North Carolina Houses completed in 1860 Houses in Orange County, North Carolina National Register of Historic Places in Orange County, North Carolina

References

Further reading