OUR HISTORY

OUR HERITAGE

In 1845, Yale was rigid, hierarchical, and unforgiving — students faced strict discipline, mandatory daily chapel, and a social order defined entirely by which secret society claimed you. From the moment a freshman stepped off the train in New Haven, sophomores were waiting at the station, extending invitations to join one of the fraternities. The system ran deep: freshman societies gave way to sophomore societies, which gave way to junior fraternities, which gave way to the most coveted prize of all — a senior society like Skull and Bones. Yale wasn't just a college. It was a proving ground.

OUR FOUNDING

Louis Manigault and Stephen Ormsby Rhea first met at St. Paul's College in New York, forging a friendship that would follow them both to Yale's freshman class in the fall of 1845. Neither man joined a freshman society, and Manigault grew openly contemptuous of Kappa Sigma Theta — the sole sophomore fraternity — whose members he found condescending toward their fellow students. From his boarding house at the corner of Temple and Chapel Street, overlooking the Yale green, Manigault spent his freshman year quietly planning a rival. On December 6, 1845, that plan became Alpha Sigma Phi.

LOUIS MANIGAULT

Born in Paris on November 21, 1828, Louis Manigault descended from French Huguenots who fled persecution in 1685 and built a fortune in South Carolina through planting and trade. By the 19th century, the Manigaults and his mother's family, the Heywards, were among America's wealthiest households.

Louis attended Saint Paul's College on Long Island, then Yale — which he left in 1847 to travel Europe with his brother. Not graduating became one of his deepest regrets.

In 1855, he took over Gowrie, the family's rice plantation near Savannah, splitting his time between Georgia and Charleston society.

During the Civil War, he served the Confederacy as a field investigator under the Surgeon General. The war destroyed the family fortune and Gowrie itself.

He returned to Charleston, tried unsuccessfully to rebuild, and died there on November 29, 1899, at age 71.

STEPHEN ORMSBY RHEA

Born in 1825 on Blackacres, his family's plantation north of Baton Rouge, Rhea grew up wealthy and privately tutored — so formal in bearing that Louis Manigault nicknamed him "Sir Ormsby."

The two met at Saint Paul's College on Long Island in 1842, and Rhea followed Manigault to Yale, where they co-founded Alpha Sigma Phi. He left six months later but stayed in New Haven for tutoring, devoting his free time to growing the Fraternity.

Rhea returned to Blackacres in 1846 to run the plantation. His wife died on the eve of the Civil War, and his son was raised by relatives in Virginia. Blackacres survived the war but was battered by Reconstruction, and Rhea spent his remaining years rebuilding it while corresponding with Manigault about the Fraternity's growth.

He entered Omega Chapter in 1873. No photograph of him is known to exist.

HORACE SPANGLER WEISER

Horace Spangler Weiser came from a distinguished Pennsylvania family. His great-great-grandfather, John Conrad Weiser, emigrated from Germany in 1710 and became a respected Berks County judge known for negotiating between settlers and Native Americans. Horace's father, a York merchant and attorney, raised 14 children.

Both Horace and his brother Erastus attended Yale, where Horace studied law. Initially reluctant to help found Alpha Sigma Phi, he was persuaded by Louis Manigault and is remembered as one of the three Founders.

Poor health forced Weiser to leave Yale in 1847. He returned in 1850 but illness drove him out again before graduation. He read law in Pennsylvania, then moved to Decorah, Iowa, where he ran a land office and founded the Winneshiek County Bank, which still operates today. He married Louise Amy in 1859 and had three children.

Weiser died of a stroke on July 19, 1875, at age 48, and is buried in Decorah.

OUR FOUNDERS

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In 2020, Alpha Sigma Phi celebrated her 175th Anniversary. In commemoration of the milestone, the Fraternity produced "For We Are Alpha Sigs," a feature-length film documenting the full history of Alpha Sigma Phi Fraternity.

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Honoring Those Who Came Before

More than two dozen statues on college and university campuses across the country bear the names of Alpha Sigma Phi members — from Andrew Dickson White (Yale 1850), the first president of Cornell, to theologian Reinhold Niebuhr (Yale 1913). Honoring our forebears is central to who we are, and across the country you'll find monuments, plaques, and buildings that preserve their legacy.

📍 Manigault Grave Site — Charleston, SC

Louis Manigault, the Fraternity's Principal Founder, rests in Magnolia Cemetery, Charleston's oldest public cemetery (founded 1849) and a site on the National Register of Historic Places.

🗺️ 70 Cunnington Avenue, Charleston, SC 29405

To find the grave: drive about 50 feet past the entrance and veer left onto the narrow road between two ponds. Cross the road, turn left onto the grass (you'll pass close to burial plots), continue roughly 200 feet, then veer right. The plot sits beside a large oak at the end of a row, surrounded by Manigault family graves. Watch the video guide.

📍 Charleston, South Carolina

Yale gave Alpha Sigma Phi its birthplace, but Charleston gave it its roots. The Manigault family shaped the city for generations, and visitors today can walk straight into that history.

The Joseph Manigault House, a National Historic Landmark in downtown Charleston, is essential viewing. Designed by Louis's grandfather Gabriel Manigault for his brother Joseph, the three-story brick townhouse is a masterpiece of Adam-style Federal architecture. Joseph owned plantations, served in the state legislature, and was a trustee of the College of Charleston. Gabriel designed Charleston's City Hall and the South Carolina Society Hall. Louis himself spent several summers at the house as a young man.

Louis later kept his own home on Six Gibbes Street near downtown Charleston. The house still stands but is privately owned — please view it from the street and respect the owners' privacy.

📍 Weiser Grave Site — Decorah, IA

Horace Spangler Weiser rests alongside his family in Section G of Phelps Cemetery.

🗺️ 1101 Pleasant Avenue, Decorah, IA 52101

📍 Ralph F. Burns Memorial Marker
After Ralph F. Burns entered Omega Chapter, the brothers of Epsilon Chapter at Ohio Wesleyan University placed a marker in his honor in the small garden left of the main library entrance. The marker bears the Fraternity Badge. The library itself is named for another Alpha Sig, R. Thornton Beeghly (Ohio Wesleyan '31) — a fitting location. Epsilon Chapter maintains the marker today.

OUR HISTORY

OUR FOUNDING

LOUIS MANIGAULT

OUR FOUNDERS

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HISTORIC SITES of ALPHA SIGMA PHI

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