Pendleton Guards

From ClemsonWiki

The Pendleton Guards is the name given to the two student walk-outs on April 1, 1907 and 1908. The cadets conceived a prank and decided to take the day off on April Fool's Day, and marched to Pendleton, in bathrobes, to loll about the Square. Warned sternly by the administration that such behavior would not be tolerated, they naturally repeated the ritual. The second time, according to reports, they brought back a cannon from Pendleton. The result was the expulsion of 306 students (although many would be later readmitted) which subsequently proved to include many members of the football team. Clemson Coach John Stone would endure the worst ever record in 1908 as a direct result.

These antics, and other bad press relating to questions about Clemson's finances in that era, led to Walter Merritt Riggs compiling the Clemson Catechism in 1910 to counter the negative images.

Although there are several other cases of student walk-outs in school history, they were the result of other issues, and the Pendleton Guards remains a two-time event.

See also: "The Charge of the Pendleton Guards", a lampoon printed by TAPS in 1908 of Alfred, Lord Tennyson's poem, "The Charge of the Light Brigade."