The Episcopal Rev. William Dudley Powers was awarded his honorary degree in 1893. He reportedly enlisted in the Confederate Army at the age of 14. After secession was defeated and slavery abolished, he received his education for the priesthood at Sewanee and served at churches in Kentucky, Maryland, Alabama, Georgia, and Michigan. He also found time to speak and publish on the virtues of the Old South. Powers was the author of Uncle Isaac; Or, Old Days in the South: A Remembrance of the South, a book of stories romanticizing the days of slavery and caricaturing enslaved people. Powers also wrote poetry glorifying the Old South, featuring titles such as “Drink to the South” and “To Virginia."

Powers, William Dudley. Uncle Isaac; Or, Old Days in the South. A Remembrance of the South. United States: B.F. Johnson Publishing Company, 1899.