Revolutionary War
The Revolutionary War resulted in the birth of the United States and had a hugely important impact on King's College, which would become Columbia (the impact including, you may have guessed by now, that very name change).
During the conflict, the college was closed. The King's building, College Hall, was a revolutionary and then a British military hospital for a time. Even the future grounds of the Morningside Heights campus saw action during the 1776 Battle of Harlem Heights, an event commemorated by a plaque on Mathematics Hall.
King's alumni and affiliates fought in the war as well, including Alexander Hamilton. A patriotic battalion known as the Hearts of Oak comprised a number of King's College men. The treasonous (but interesting) Samuel Auchmuty fought for the British, and later fought to expand their empire elsewhere in the world.
