TUSCALOOSA (AP) — A copy of the Quran at the University of Alabama’s library is believed to be the only book saved when Union troops burned down the campus in 1865.

The story behind the rescued copy at UA was recounted by Clark Center, curator of the W.S. Hoole Special Collections Library at the university.

Center said that the university’s librarian at the time begged a Union colonel not to burn the Rotunda, which held the school’s collection of books. But Union officers believed the university was providing materials to the Confederates, and would not spare it.