Staunton Military Academy was a private all-male military school located in Staunton, Virginia. Founded in 1884, the academy closed in 1976. The school was highly regarded for its academic and military programs, and many notable American political and military leaders are graduates, including Sen. Barry Goldwater, the 1964 Republican presidential candidate, and his son, Rep. Barry Goldwater Jr., 1960's folk singer Phil Ochs, and John Dean, a White House Counsel who was a central figure in the Watergate scandal of the early 1970s. A museum dedicated to the school's history is located on its former campus, now part of Mary Baldwin University. Throughout its history, the academy was referred to by students, faculty, and Staunton residents simply by its initials, SMA. History The Staunton Male Academy was founded in 1884 by William H. Kable, a native of Virginia in the region that became West Virginia following the Civil War. Kable served the Confederacy during the war and was injured during the Battle of Gettysburg, and when the war ended began a career in education. After teaching briefly in rural Virginia, Kable enrolled at the University of Virginia to resume studies he had begun before the war. He graduated with a Master of Arts in 1868 and briefly started a school outside Staunton, Virginia but left teaching to tend to his family's farm near Charlestown, West Virginia. Kable married during this period and had his first son in 1872. Around this time, he joined the Charlestown Academy, a private school, as Principal, a position he held for 12 years. Near the end of his tenure at Charlestown, in May 1884, Kable sold 13 acres of his farm and purchased a house and four-acre property in Staunton with the intention of starting his own school. Troubled times On September 2, 1884, the Staunton Male Academy opened with 50 students, including boarders who lived in the Kable residence. Classes were held in a frame building Kable had constructed on the property. After four years of successful operation, Kable added a wood frame barracks, acquired additional land, and adopted a military format, changing the school's name to Staunton Military Academy. During the summer of 1888, Kable's brother-in-law and business manager W.W. Gibbs went on a tour of the South and recruited more than 40 students. The academy started its 1888-89 session with a total enrollment of 117 cadets and a faculty of 11 instructors.