This is for anyone with the information.... I am asking this question with tongue in cheek.... does anyone have any primary source documentation that George Alexander and his famous Co I 3rd ARk Inf took off to Virginia with the Cadet artillery guns from the AMI??? A reputable institution claims that Co I 3rd Ark was made up of the entire Cadet Corps from AMI (supposedly about 100+ young boys), and marched off to glory pulling their little guns with them. Now I know, as a researcher of that time period, that infantry companies would not have even thought of taking cannon with them. Now, a group wanting to be artillery was sometimes changed to infantry but this was not the case with Co I 3rd Ark. Now in my researching the AMI, I found that Alexander left the school about 1856 and concentrated on his farming, the guns and cannons returned to the arsenal and the school became just a "boys school". Can ANYONE!!!! provide me with proof that this school operated until April of 1861 as THE Ark Military Institute as so many folks seem to claim. I say it ceased to be a military school in 1856 but I am willing to admit defeat if someone can provide me primary proof, not these internet articles with no footnotes etc stating otherwise.

Many Thanks