Bethel Military Academy

Parade ground of the Bethel Military Academy

Bethel Military Academy was a school near Warrenton, Virginia in Fauquier County.^[1][2] It operated from 1867 until 1911^[3] and had several prominent alumni. The Virginia General Assembly passed a bill in 1901 incorporating the school. The bill included a requirement that one student chosen from each district of Virginia was granted tuition free admission to the school.^[2]

The 1896 Maryland Aggies football team played against Bethel Academy. Kappa Sigma Kappa fraternity had a branch at the school for a few years.

Buttons worn on a uniform from the school include the Virginia state seal of Virtus slaying the giant.^[4]

Alumni

• John L. McLaurin, U.S. Representative
• Theodore G. Croft, U.S. Representative
• Charles W. Field, Maryland state delegate^[5]
• Leon Lydecker Freeman, local mayor and former owner of the Freeman House Store
• Grenville Gaines, mayor of Warrenton, Virginia^[6]
• Joseph Chappell Hutcheson Jr. (1879–1973), American judge and mayor of Houston^[7]
• Frank Owens Smith, U.S. Representative
• David D. Terry, U.S. Representative
• Howard W. Smith, U.S. Representative
• Lucien D. Starke Jr., president and publisher of the Norfolk Virginian-Pilot^[8]

Further reading

• The History of Bethel Military Academy, Warrenton, Virginia by Peter Bartow Smith University of Virginia M.A. dissertation 1945.^[9]

References

1. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2019-10-01. Retrieved 2019-10-01.
2. "Acts and Joint Resolutions of the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Virginia". Commonwealth of Virginia, Department of Purchases and Supply. January 25, 1901 – via Google Books.
3. Brenner, Kate (January 25, 2014). Warrenton. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 9781467121675 – via Google Books.
4. "Ridgeway Civil War Archive Buttons from Virginia, schools and academies....DRAFT..." www.relicman.com. Retrieved 25 January 2020.
5. Distinguished Men of Baltimore and of Maryland. Baltimore American. 1914. p. 119. Retrieved 2022-12-08 – via Archive.org.
6. University of Virginia; its history, influence, equipment and characteristics, with biographical sketches and portraits of founders, benefactors, officers and alumni. Vol. 2. Lewis Publishing Company. 1904. pp. 147–148. Retrieved 2023-04-27 – via Archive.org.
7. University of Virginia; its history, influence, equipment and characteristics, with biographical sketches and portraits of founders, benefactors, officers and alumni. Vol. 2. Lewis Publishing Company. 1904. pp. 30–31. Retrieved 2023-04-24 – via Archive.org.
8. "Col. Lucien Douglas Starke, Publisher of Virginian-Pilot, Dies After Brief Illness". Newspapers.com. Norfolk, Virginia: The Virginian-Pilot. 1931-08-01. p. 1,4. Retrieved 2024-11-10.
9. Smith, Peter Bartow (1945). The History of Bethel Military Academy, Warrenton, Virginia. University of Virginia. Retrieved 25 January 2020.