The Graham Guard was a student military organization which operated during the Civil War. Subsequent military groups were formed during World War I and World War II.

Two weeks after Abraham Lincoln's election on November 6, 1860, it became apparent that the South would secede from the rest of the United States and in response, 13 Trinity students organized a military company with the assistance of Trinity College Greek Professor, Edward Graham Daves. Daves was a Harvard graduate who originated from North Carolina; his younger brother, Graham Daves, graduated from Trinity in 1857 and subsequently joined the Confederate army in 1861.

“Daves was interested in the proposed organization to the extent of presenting to the Company the flag and all other things necessary to make the undertaking a military success,” wrote W. B. Penfield, Class of 1862, in the April 1908 Trinity Tablet, “hence the name, 'Graham Guard,' was the courteous return for his generous offer.”

Several of the students who formed the Graham Guard had gone to military prep schools prior to attending Trinity, and instructed their fellow students in Hardee's Tactics: Franklin H. Fowler, Class of 1861, was chosen Captain. The other students were: William H. Webster, Class of 1861; William H. Birckhead, Class of 1861; Leonard Kip Storrs, Class of 1863; J. F. Ely, Class of 1864; and Fordham Morris, Class of 1864. The Parthenon Society donated the use of their society room for drill and meetings, and the Connecticut Adjutant General supplied the Graham Guard with 10 cadet rifles from the State Arsenal.

At the same time, Trinity College's Union loyalty, despite being declared by students, was under scrutiny: College President Samuel Eliot refused to fly an American flag on campus, Professor Daves was writing Southern-sympathizing editorials to the paper, and there were still Southern students in residence. Increasingly angry rumors began to spread that a mob was coming to destroy Trinity's buildings due to harboring secessionists and traitors.

No such mob attack occurred, and by June 1861, most of the Graham Guard had left campus to enlist. The state armory recalled its muskets, and Professor Daves took a leave of absence before finally resigning.

Around that time, the Trustees of Trinity College considered the creation of a Military Science Department, which is detailed in the 1862-63 catalogue. The “course of instruction” was “to include physical exercises, tactics, and such scientific studies as are fully adapted to secure the end in view.” The Department was never created.

Trinity Tripod, 11/14/1972.

The History of Trinity College (1966) by Glenn Weaver, pp. 130-132.

Trinity Tablet, April 1908.