Kappa Alpha Order

Kappa Alpha Order is a collegiate order of Christian knights. It is not to be confused with the Kappa Alpha Society, of which there is no connection. Kappa Alpha Order was derived from a smaller fraternity, Phi Kappa Chi. Phi Kappa Chi was founded when one of the original founders, James Ward Wood, was refused entry into various fraternities at the school. The local chapter of Phi Kappa Psi protested, due to the similarity of the names. At this time the fraternity first took the name Kappa Alpha.

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Kappa Alpha Order was founded December 21, 1865 at Washington College (now Washington and Lee University) in Lexington, Virginia. The four founding fathers were influenced by Robert E. Lee, who was the school's president following the American Civil War, and formed Kappa Alpha. The Order was kept alive by Samuel Zenas Ammen in subsequent years and the chapter spread throughout the Southern United States. Up until recent times it remained a distinctly Southern fraternity, another factor which separated it from the northern-based Kappa Alpha Society. There are now chapters of the Order in the West and North.

Related Topics:
Washington and Lee University - Lexington, Virginia - Robert E. Lee - American Civil War - Southern United States

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