In 1861, the entire student body of the University of Mississippi enlisted in the Confederate Army as a single company. They suffered a 100% casualty rate during the Civil War.
With the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861, classes were interrupted when the entire student body from the University of Mississippi enlisted in the Confederate army. Their company, Company A, 11th Mississippi Infantry, was nicknamed the University Greys. It suffered a 100% casualty rate during the Civil War.[8] A great number of those casualties occurred during Pickett's Charge at the Battle of Gettysburg on July 3, 1863, when the University Greys made the deepest encroachment into Union territory. Some of the soldiers crossed the Union defensive fortification wall, only to be killed, wounded or captured. On the next day, July 4, Confederate forces surrendered at Vicksburg, Mississippi; the two battles together are commonly viewed as the turning point in the war leading to victory by the Union. When Ole Miss re-opened, only one member of the University Greys was able to visit the university to address the student body.[citation needed]The Lyceum was used as a hospital during the Civil War for both Union and Confederate soldiers, especially those who were wounded at the battle of Shiloh. Two hundred-fifty soldiers who died in the campus hospital were buried in a cemetery on the grounds of the university.[9][10] During the post-war period, the university was led by former Confederate general A.P. Stewart, a Rogersville, Tennessee native. He served as Chancellor from 1874-1886.[11]
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