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Preston and Francis H. Smith correspondence","Virginia Military Institute—History—19th century","Virginia Military Institute—Board of Visitors","Correspondence","Records (documents)","There are no restrictions","These documents are available online","John T. L. Preston (1811-1890), was one of the founders of the Virginia Military Institute.  He served at VMI as a member of the first Board of Visitors (1839) and as a Professor of Modern Languages from 1839-1875. During the Civil War he was on the staff of Gen. Stonewall Jackson.","Major General Francis Henney Smith (b. 1812 d. 1890) was appointed VMI's first Superintendent in 1839. An 1833 graduate of West Point, he had previously served briefly in the U. S. Army and was a Professor of Mathematics at Hampden-Sydney College (VA) when he accepted the position as head of the newly established Virginia Military Institute. 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