Recently, Her Campus Sewanee has done Campus Celebrity articles on people depicted in the stained-glass windows of All Saints’ Chapel: Major Archibald Butt and Civil Rights Heroes: Jonathan Daniels and Ruby Sales.
So, seeing as Convocation is this coming Friday and several new students will be gowned, it is fitting to highlight one of the founding members of the Order of the Gownsmen. In a stained-glass window in the narthex of All Saints’, there is a depiction of a student being gowned by Reverend Doctor William Porcher Dubose, University Chaplain and founder of the Order of the Gownsmen. The student being gowned was one of the first members of the Order of the Gownsmen, William Crawford Gorgas (yes, that Gorgas–though the dorm was named after his father Josiah, not him).
The Order of the Gownsmen was founded in 1873, but was a Sewanee tradition long before that. Since its beginning, the tradition has represented a tie between the University of the South and the University of Oxford, after which Sewanee is modeled. Gowns were originally worn by all students and faculty, but after the founding of the Order of the Gownsmen, students who are members of the Order wear the gown as a mark of academic distinction. William Gorgas was one of the first students inducted.
William Gorgas, born in Mobile, AL, attended the University of the South when his father, Josiah Gorgas, accepted the position of Vice-Chancellor at the University. After William Gorgas graduated in 1875, he attended medical school and then joined the U.S. Army Medical Corps.
Above the stained-glass depiction of Gorgas’ gowning, there is a small depiction of Panama to memorialize his work that helped make the building of the Panama Canal possible.
Congratulations to all those who are gowned and to all who will be gowned! It is an honor to be among the many accomplished members of the Order of the Gownsmen, including William Crawford Gorgas.
Learn more about the Order of the Gownsmen and William Crawford Gorgas.