Columbia Military Academy
Encyclopedia
The property on which Columbia Military Academy was built was an arsenal for the US Army up to the end of the Spanish-American War. The arsenal was declared surplus property in 1901, and in 1904 the land was formally turned over to the Columbia Military Academy. CMA opened for classes on August 28, 1905.
The Great Depression was a hard time for all private schools, and CMA was no exception. Enrollment dropped to less than two hundred cadets on a regular basis, and the school struggled to stay open. In 1931, however, a new Operating Board led by C.A. Ragsdale and William O. Batts was created, and CMA's situation improved under their leadership in the subsequent years. CMA was rated as an Honor School by the Department of the Army in 1935, a distinction it retained until 1975. The JROTC program, added in 1918, and the ROTC program, added in 1947, were inspected annually by active-duty Army officers, and active Army officers and NCO's were assigned to the school as instructors.
Colonel M.F. Gilchrist, Jr., a CMA and West Point graduate, was hired to head Columbia Military Academy in June 1962. Enrollment was up at this time in the school's history, with more than five hundred cadets enrolled. He was succeeded by Gilbert Hatcher, a long-time instructor at CMA, in 1968. Only ten years later, however, the Columbia Military Academy was in terminal decline. The Supreme Court's order to desegregate public schools in the early 1960s caused a sudden rise in the number of private day schools across the South. The ever-increasing unpopularity of the Vietnam War, and the severe drop in prestige that everything military took during these years, only worsened the situation of private military boarding schools like CMA. In an effort to increase enrollment, female day students were added in 1969, and for them participation in the military programs was optional. This introduction of civilian students to CMA furthered the decline of military elements at the school, and in 1978 enrollment in the JROTC and ROTC programs dropped below the minimum level. In order to pay its mounting debts, Columbia Military Academy's property was turned over to a local Christian church group and CMA was closed.
The Great Depression was a hard time for all private schools, and CMA was no exception. Enrollment dropped to less than two hundred cadets on a regular basis, and the school struggled to stay open. In 1931, however, a new Operating Board led by C.A. Ragsdale and William O. Batts was created, and CMA's situation improved under their leadership in the subsequent years. CMA was rated as an Honor School by the Department of the Army in 1935, a distinction it retained until 1975. The JROTC program, added in 1918, and the ROTC program, added in 1947, were inspected annually by active-duty Army officers, and active Army officers and NCO's were assigned to the school as instructors.
Colonel M.F. Gilchrist, Jr., a CMA and West Point graduate, was hired to head Columbia Military Academy in June 1962. Enrollment was up at this time in the school's history, with more than five hundred cadets enrolled. He was succeeded by Gilbert Hatcher, a long-time instructor at CMA, in 1968. Only ten years later, however, the Columbia Military Academy was in terminal decline. The Supreme Court's order to desegregate public schools in the early 1960s caused a sudden rise in the number of private day schools across the South. The ever-increasing unpopularity of the Vietnam War, and the severe drop in prestige that everything military took during these years, only worsened the situation of private military boarding schools like CMA. In an effort to increase enrollment, female day students were added in 1969, and for them participation in the military programs was optional. This introduction of civilian students to CMA furthered the decline of military elements at the school, and in 1978 enrollment in the JROTC and ROTC programs dropped below the minimum level. In order to pay its mounting debts, Columbia Military Academy's property was turned over to a local Christian church group and CMA was closed.
Heads of CMA
- Colonel M.F. Gilchrist, Jr. (1962–1968)
- Gilbert Edson (1968–1970)
- Blythe Hatcher (1970–1975)
- K.L. Baron (1975–1976)
- John Varnell (1976–1977)
- Richard Fly (1977–1979)