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Author Topic: Who knows where/how LSU got their name "Fighting Tigers"?  (Read 7830 times)

swest47

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Who knows where/how LSU got their name "Fighting Tigers"?
« on: May 09, 2012, 08:50:21 AM »
The answer is on the Forums. Anyone, anyone!

emike123

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Re: Who knows where/how LSU got their name "Fighting Tigers"?
« Reply #1 on: May 09, 2012, 10:57:16 AM »
I always assumed it referred back to the Civil War when Louisiana troops in the Army of Northern Virginia were called "Tigers," known for their fierce fighting.   There was a Tiger Rifles unit too.  Am I wrong or is there a more specific answer?

CarlS

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Re: Who knows where/how LSU got their name "Fighting Tigers"?
« Reply #2 on: May 09, 2012, 03:08:45 PM »
Wiki says:  LSU's nickname is a throwback to its Confederate heritage and is drawn from the Civil War fame of a New Orleans infantry company, the "Tiger Rifles," who fought so fiercely in General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia that they, and eventually all other Louisiana troops, became known as "Louisiana Tigers."
Best,
Carl

Garret

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Re: Who knows where/how LSU got their name "Fighting Tigers"?
« Reply #3 on: May 09, 2012, 07:57:25 PM »
Here's an interesting article that confirms all your answers:

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/news?slug=ycn-7506386
"Suppose you were an idiot.  And suppose you were a member of Congress.  But I repeat myself."  Mark Twain

swest47

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Re: Who knows where/how LSU got their name "Fighting Tigers"?
« Reply #4 on: May 10, 2012, 08:16:09 AM »
Yup, the name comes for the Louisiana Tigers.

According to historians Arthur W. Bergeron and Terry L. Jones, the name “Fighting Tigers” is derived from a notorious group of Confederate soldiers from Louisiana whose drunk and rowdy behavior was tolerated only because of their incredible results on the battlefield. They write that the volunteer company nicknamed the Tiger Rifles, sometimes called the “wharf rats from New Orleans” and the “lowest scrapings of the Mississippi,” became part of the Confederate batallion commanded by Major Chatam Roberdeau Wheat. In time, Wheat’s entire battalion was called the Tigers, and the name was later applied to all Louisiana troops of Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia.

Lamar

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Re: Who knows where/how LSU got their name "Fighting Tigers"?
« Reply #5 on: May 10, 2012, 02:30:13 PM »
It's ironic that William Tecumseh Sherman was the first superintendent of the school (Louisiana State Seminary of Learning & Military Academy) that became LSU.

emike123

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Re: Who knows where/how LSU got their name "Fighting Tigers"?
« Reply #6 on: May 10, 2012, 03:01:03 PM »
That must be why they fought like crazy

Lazouave

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Re: Who knows where/how LSU got their name "Fighting Tigers"?
« Reply #7 on: July 15, 2012, 06:50:40 PM »
The first true post war president of LSU was Major David French Boyd. He first served with the 9th LA Inf, a Louisiana Tiger regiment serving with the army of Northern VA.

Yes, they the Fighting LSU Tigers and named after the Louisiana Fighting Tigers of Lee's Army.

Boyd ended up in the beautiful Trans-Miss later in the war. When captured by the yankees, he had $50,000 in Confederate money on him. He was taken to Vicksburg. Sherman, his old headmaster when they were both at the Louisiana College, forerunner of LSU, before the war, was contacted. Boyd was treated extremely well and left retaining the $50,000!

Geaux Tigers(both of them)!!!