The company was first organized as a ceremonial unit to honor and commemorate General Lafayette during his visit to Columbia in March 1825.

Called the Lafayette Guards,[2] they were authorized by Governor Richard Irvine Manning I and were provided with arms from the state armory.

As the secession movement picked up pace after the election of Abraham Lincoln in the fall of 1860, the Board of Trustees voted to allow the students to reorganize the cadet company on December 3, 1860.

They arrived in Charleston during the evening, received orders from General Beauregard, and spent the night at the Hibernian Hall.

Nevertheless, Governor Pickens denied the students permission to join the fight in Virginia stating that "the war would be of short duration and that the Government needed statesmen more than soldiers.

Governor Pickens ordered the cadet company to be mustered out of service on December 10 after a lack of Union activity in South Carolina.