1. James Frank Hopkins-born in Ripley, Mississippi on December 10, 1845. He enlisted for the Confederacy in the Civil War at the age of nineteen, and because of his expert horsemanship, was assigned the perilous duty of courier. Although his family lost most of their possessions during the war, they managed to scrape together enough money to send James Frank to the Virginia Military Institute in 1867 where Sigma Nu was founded in 1869.
2. Greenfield Quarles-born on April 1, 1847 in Christian County, Kentucky. At age sixteen, he also enlisted and served as an aide under his uncle, General William Quarles, until he was captured and made a prisoner of war for six months. After his release in 1865, he attended preparatory school in Toronto, Canada before he entered VMI in the fall of 1866.
3. James McIlvaine Riley-born on May 16, 1849 in St. Louis, Missouri. He was the son of Anna Sanford Topscott Riley and James McIlvaine Riley Sr. He never served in the military previous to his entrance at VMI in 1866 when he was seventeen years of age.
4. [silent founder] Terrance Peterson-born on October 20, 1847 in Columbia, South Carolina. He was the son of Donald and Katherine Peterson and enlisted in the Confederacy at age seventeen. After the war, the engineering program at VMI attracted him, so he entered in the fall of 1866.

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