Tree planted in memory of John N. Waddel
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Tree planted in memory of John N. Waddel
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The John N. Waddel Oak was dedicated to its namesake on the campus of Rhodes College in 1925. It stands alongside other oak trees grown from seeds brought from Clarksville, Tennessee to Memphis when the college relocated there.
Waddel was born in 1812 in Wilmington, South Carolina, the son of an eminent Presbyterian minister and educator. Waddell followed in his father's footsteps, helping found LaGrange Synodical College near Memphis and becoming the institution's president in 1860.
After Memphis was captured by Union forces in 1862, Waddell faced imprisonment for refusing to sign the Oath of Loyalty to the US Government. But he successfully escaped through enemy lines, joined the Confederate Army of the Mississippi, and became commissioner in charge of chaplains.
After the Civil War, Waddell was Chancellor of the University of Mississippi and later Chancellor of Southwestern Presbyterian University in Clarksville, Tennessee (later, Rhodes College). He retired from Southwestern in 1888 and died in 1895. A Waddell Hall was dedicated in his honor on the Clarksville Campus.
Oaks commemorating Waddell and other college leaders were planted in the shape of an "S" on the southern edge of the Rhodes College campus to designate "Southwestern." These trees were removed in 1991 when Buckman Hall was built, although one oak remains from the original “S.”
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The tree was one of a series of oaks on the southern edge of the Rhodes College campus, planted in the shape of an "S" to represent "Southwestern."
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Nicholassen, G. F.
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Taylor, Walker M.
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27 November 1925
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1991
Position: 877 (7 views)