Special Collection Treasures

Colonel James Murfee was Howard College's sixth president, installed in 1871. He started his life as an educator in 1860 at the University of Alabama teaching mathematics and as the Commandant of Cadets. During the Civil War Colonel Murfee devoted his time solely to military instruction. He left the University of Alabama several years into Reconstruction. When offered the position of president of Howard College in the summer of 1871, he accepted.

Colonel Murfee overhauled many aspects of life at Howard College, including the way that classes were taught and how students were evaluated. The most lasting impression, perhaps, was the requirement that the boys wear uniforms. According to the Marion Commonwealth “The buttons bear a most beautiful and suitable device – a cross and crown irradiating a halo of light and glory, with 'Howard College' in prominent letters around the button. The whole costume is in elegant taste and adds wonderfully to the appearance of the young gentlemen.”

Though Colonel Murfee declined to relocate with Howard College to their new East Lake campus in Birmingham in 1887, his influence did make the move. Students continued wearing the military inspired heavy wool uniforms up to the 1913-1914 school year.