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The secession of southern states from the United States in 1860 and 1861 bitterly divided Princeton’s students along regional and political lines—prompting the withdrawal of one quarter of the student body, many of whom later fought in the Confederate Army or served in the rebel government.

Princeton’s reputation as a moderately conservative college with a large proportion of southern students attracted the sons of wealthy slave-owning families such as the Joneses of Liberty County, Georgia.