Richard W. Colcock

Richard Woodward Colcock (born June 6, 1806, Beaufort, South Carolina, died January 9, 1856, Charleston, South Carolina) was the second president (then known as Superintendent) of The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina, from 1844 through 1852.

His father, Charles Jones Colcock, was a prominent South Carolina lawyer who graduated from Princeton College in 1787. As a little boy, Richard’s mother Mary Woodward Colcock read the Bible and a book Living Christianity to her young children. There being no schools in the area, Richard W. Colcock was educated at home by two private tutors: John Gates Creagh (an 1813 graduate of South Carolina College) and Elijah Gilbert (an 1815 graduate of South Carolina College with first honors).

Richard W. Colcock was appointed to the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1822 and graduated in 1826. He was in the sixth class from the academy with the new four-year curriculum developed by Major Sylvanus Thayer. He was the 457th graduate of West Point and finished 26th of 41 graduates from his class. The Citadel Board of Visitors appointed Colcock to assume the duties of Superintendent after the death of Captain Graham in 1844.

Prior to becoming Superintendent, Colcock served for ten years as an infantry officer in the U.S. Army. During eight of his ten years of active duty, he fought in the Indian Wars on the Western frontier and the Seminole War in Florida.

His first assignment after graduation was at Fort Duval, near Silver Springs, Florida. The new territory of Florida, ceded to the United States from Spain in 1821, quickly became a battle ground for a guerrilla war with the native American tribes of the state. Lieutenant Colcock spent his first two years (1826-1828) at Fort Duval, Fort King, and Cantonment Clinch in Florida.

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