There are two water towers on campus. The main one is on Indian Hill; its height is 160 feet and its capacity is 2,500 gallons. It could at one time be seen through the Seraph Monument's periscope when that monument was in front of the library, at the corner of Lee and the Avenue of Remembrance. It had a Confederate Flag painted on it which could clearly be seen through the periscope. The other water tower is within the clock tower of Padgett-Thomas Barracks. It just supplements the main tower in maintaining water pressure.
In the old tower, cadets would lower themselves down the ladder in semi-darkness and go swimming. One of the cadets who did this was David McCuen, who later became chairman of the Board of Visitors.
"McCuen said some thirty years after this prank, that he and his fellow swimmers often amused themselves thinking about the expression that might appear on General Summerall's face if he knew they were swimming in his drinking water." (Source: Dennis D. Nicholson, Jr. , A History of the Citadel: The Years of Summerall and Clark, p. 82. U430 .C5 N53 1994)
