Founding Fathers
The
Noble
Leslie
DeVotie
Noble Leslie DeVotie, while the youngest of the group, would become the leading founding father of Sigma Alpha Epsilon at the age of eighteen. He would later enlist as Chaplin for the Confederacy. On February 12, 1861, as he was about to board a steamer at Fort Morgan, Alabama, he would misstep and fall into the water – he would become the first man to lose his life in the Civil War.
Nathan
Elams
Cockrell
Although Nathan Elams Cockrell was the first of the founding fathers to reach Chapter eternal on June 3, 1859, his contributions as the eldest founding father will never be taken for granted. Brother Nathan Elams Cockrell is buried at Sumertville, Alabama.
John
Barratt
Rudulph
John Barratt Rudulph is the founding father that designed the badge (pin) that we as brothers all wear with pride. Brother John Barratt Rudulph enlisted as a captain during the civil war, and eventually became a colonel. He would lose his arm during the battle of New Hope Church. John Barratt Rudulph passed at Pleasant Hill, Alabama, on April 13, 1910 which is where he would be buried.
John
Webb
Kerr
John Webb Kerr entered the University of Alabama, October 19, 1852. He would be elected as the first secretary of the fraternity. He received a law degree from Harvard University in 1858. John Webb Kerr would later pass in St. Louis, Missouri, September 14, 1898.
Samuel
Marion
Dennis
Samuel Marion Dennis studied at Princeton University from which he graduated in 1857. At the outbreak of Civil War he joined "Terry's Texas Rangers" and fought for the Confederacy. He would later be captured by Union Soldiers near Tennessee and placed on a steamer that was sent northward to St. Louis. Dennis, while held in prison wearning wet clothes, would contract pneumonia and die January 28, 1863.
Wade
Hampton
Foster
Wade Hampton Foster graduated in 1856, and is known as the founding father who recorded the minutes of the first meeting. During the Civil War he was a private under General Forrest in Company D, in Ferguson's Brigade. His company surrendered at Washington, Georgia. After the war he engaged in business at Marshall, Texas, and he eventually would die there February 15, 1867.
Abner
Edwin
Patton
Abner Edwin Patton entered the University of Alabama, October 4, 1854, and graduated in 1857. He would go on to become the fraternities first president. During the Civil War he would be mortally wounded at the battle of Gaines Mill, July 13, 1863, and would die in a hospital in Richmond, VA, which is where he was buried.
Thomas
Chappel
Cook
Thomas Chappel Cook entered the University of Alabama, October 5, 1853 and remained there until January 1, 1856. He left before the chapter was able to form, so he was sent a copy of the ritual to initiate himself. After the Civil War, he would go to Weimar, Texas, which is where passed on February 18, 1906.
HisTory
The True Gentleman
Sigma Alpha Epsilon was founded on March 9, 1856, at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Its founders were Noble Leslie DeVotie, Nathan Elams Cockrell, John Barratt Rudulph, John Webb Kerr, Samuel Marion Dennis, Wade Hampton Foster, Abner Edwin Patton, and Thomas Chappell Cook. Their leader was DeVotie, who wrote the ritual, created the grip, and chose the name. Rudulph designed the badge.
By the end of 1857, the fraternity numbered seven chapters. Its first national convention met in the summer of 1858 at Murfreesboro, Tennessee, with four of its eight chapters in attendance. By the early 1860's, fifteen chapters had been established.
​
None of the founders of SAE were members of any other fraternity, although Noble Leslie DeVotie had been invited to join all of the other fraternities at the University of Alabama before founding Sigma Alpha Epsilon.
​
​
​