Calhoun stayed at the South Carolina Female Collegiate Institute for about a year before she returned to her family's home at Fort Hill.

As Clemson became a high-ranking diplomat to the Kingdom of Belgium, Calhoun quickly became homesick and wished to return to her father.

[3][4][5][6] After their return to the United States, Clemson served in the Civil War, leaving Calhoun to care for the children and the farm.

Calhoun and Floride packed several possessions and temporarily moved into a five-room home outside of Beltsville, Maryland, which was near Baltimore.

Calhoun and Floride decided to pack up their remaining possessions and to mail them to relatives, hoping that their items would make it through the war.

Calhoun never received trouble from either the North or the South while crossing borderlines to see her mother, until 1865 when she moved back to Pendleton.

[2][3][4][5][6] In the years preceding Anna Calhoun Clemson's death, she and her husband discussed starting an agricultural college in upstate South Carolina.

One of the main points of the committee was to spread the word that the college was to be built in the legacy of her father, John C. Calhoun, who did much for the state of South Carolina.