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1. Early twentieth century · 1900–1944

2. Fall 1917
   Appointment, election or service · UNC, Chapel Hill Capt. J. Stuart Allen organizes the volunteer UNC Reserve Corps

   Graham brought Captain J. Stuart Allen, a wounded Canadian veteran of Ypres and the Somme, to run military training, paying him $4,000 from the budget. Volunteers bought their own uniforms and earned five credit hours for twelve or more hours a week of drill and trench digging east of the campus.

3. Fall 1917
   Closing or ending · UNC, Chapel Hill The university cancels its 1917 football season as students drill

   With more than half the students in a new four-company training program under Captain J. Stuart Allen, a twice-wounded Canadian veteran, the Athletic Association called off intercollegiate football for the duration. Albert Coates, its president, took part in the decision.

4. Fall 1917
   Closing or ending · Emerson Field, UNC, Chapel Hill The university suspends intercollegiate football for the war

   Intercollegiate football was dropped in the fall of 1917 as drilling men took over Emerson Field in the afternoons. Captain Allen took on the coach's duties, conditioning students with trench digging and mock attacks.

5. University Day, October 1917
   Publication, speech or performance · Memorial Hall, UNC, Chapel Hill Governor Bickett gives a wartime University Day address

   A month after the term opened, Governor Thomas W. Bickett spoke at University Day in a chilly Memorial Hall, denouncing slackers. Marshals led the academic procession through ranks of uniformed men.

6. Fall 1918
   Chapel Hill Capt. J. Stuart Allen returns to command the students outside the SATC

   When the Students' Army Training Corps took over the campus in the fall of 1918, about 300 students too young or otherwise ineligible had to room in the village. Capt. J. Stuart Allen, back for a second year, commanded their non-SATC training company, which drilled on the old class field.

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Compiled and maintained by the Friends of the Orange County Public Library from county records, the sources named on each card, and the index’s event pages. Last updated October 2, 2026.