6, 1888, he bequeathed the Fort Hill plantation and most of his estate, which he inherited from his wife, in his will to be used to establish a college that would teach scientific agriculture and the mechanical arts to South Carolinians. His decision was largely influenced by the future South Carolina Governor Benjamin Tillman. Tillman lobbied the South Carolina General Assembly to create the school as an agricultural institution for the state, and the resolution passed by only one vote.
In his will, Clemson explicitly stated he wanted the school to be modeled after what is now Mississippi State University.
=== Clemson Agricultural College of South Carolina ===
In November 1889, South Carolina Governor John Peter Richardson III signed the bill, thus establishing the Clemson Agricultural College of South Carolina. As a result, federal funds for agricultural education from the Morrill Land-Grant Colleges Act and the Hatch Act of 1887 were transferred from South Carolina College (today, the University of South …
