Qualla: Emory and Henry University

Emory and Henry University: Introduction

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Jediah999, CC BY-SA 3.0. On September 30, 1836, four men - a Methodist minister named Creed Fulton, a Methodist farmer named Tobias Smyth, a Methodist businessman named Alexander Findlay, and Colonel William Byars - laid the foundation stone for Wiley Hall in the village of Emory, Virginia. They named their new college for Bishop John Emory, a Methodist bishop, and Patrick Henry, Virginia's first governor and patriot of the American Revolution. Some historians suspect the Henry actually honored Patrick Henry's sister Elizabeth Henry Campbell Russell, who lived nearby in Saltville and Chilhowie and had been a major financial backer. The college opened classes in spring 1838 with 60 students. One hundred and ninety years later it is still teaching - the oldest institution of higher learning in southwest Virginia.

Image: Jediah999 | CC BY-SA 3.0

Emory and Henry University: The Hospital Years

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Jediah999, CC BY-SA 3.0. Emory and Henry closed in April 1861 when its young men marched off to the war. In 1862 the Confederate States of America commandeered the campus, and Wiley Hall - barely twenty-five years old - became a military hospital until 1865. The hospital saw fighting during the Battle of...

Image: Jediah999 | CC BY-SA 3.0

Emory and Henry University: Soldiers and Code-Breakers

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Jediah999, CC BY-SA 3.0. James Ewell Brown Stuart - J.E.B. Stuart, the Confederate cavalry general who became one of Lee's most famous commanders - enrolled at Emory and Henry as a teenager from 1848 to 1850, before transferring to West Point. Other alumni took different paths in different wars. Thomas T...

Image: Jediah999 | CC BY-SA 3.0

Emory and Henry University: Wasps, the Rock, and the Duck Pond

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Jediah999, CC BY-SA 3.0. The football team got its nickname after a single game. Emory and Henry played the University of Tennessee Volunteers in Knoxville, in their blue-and-gold striped socks and sleeves, and held the heavily favored Vols to a 6-0 lead at halftime through swarming, persistent defense. ...

Image: Jediah999 | CC BY-SA 3.0

Emory and Henry University: University, and Trouble

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Jediah999, CC BY-SA 3.0. On August 1, 2024, Emory and Henry College officially became Emory and Henry University - a name change reflecting graduate programs added over the previous decade. The change came with strain. In June 2025, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools placed the university o...

Image: Jediah999 | CC BY-SA 3.0