I actually believe you're right...The Memorial Tower (Obelisk) was donated at first in the memory of all the student soldiers who lost their lives in the First Great War... In the South, since the days of the Revolutionary War, you always find more officers and professional soldiers amongst the general populace, and therefore, it hit schools and communities down here much harder. The North struggled in the War of States Rights for a long time because a majority of officers in the service at that time were of Southern Heritage, and they took not only themselves, but many of their trusted lietenants, as well as a preponderance of professional soldiers being from the South as well. Some say that's the only real advantage that the South ever had...The military intelligence angle...
In his book, The Fighting Tigers 1893-1993 , Peter Finney says "The flow of casualty lists made any attempt at football half-hearted, so it was not a difficult decision for LSU to tuck away its gear until hostilities ended."
