Chronology

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1. Antebellum and Civil War · 1800–1865

2. October 15, 1863
   Law, policy or court · University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill Swain asks Jefferson Davis to exempt university students from the draft

   Acting on a trustee resolution of October 8, President David L. Swain wrote from Chapel Hill to Jefferson Davis asking that the remaining students be spared from conscription. He reported 63 students left of the 430 enrolled in 1860 and fifteen young men of the village already killed. The Conscript Office then told the district enrolling officer to grant the exemptions.

3. May 5, 1865
   Violence or armed conflict · Chapel Hill General Couch leads 12,000 Union troops through Chapel Hill

   On May 5, 1865, a Union infantry column under General Darius N. Couch passed through Chapel Hill. Weeks put it at about 12,000 men; Spencer, writing in 1866, said twelve or fourteen thousand.

4. June 1865
   Statistic or record · University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill The 1865 commencement graduates one senior before a crowd of Federal soldiers

   Of fifteen seniors on the rolls on June 1, 1865, only William Curtis Prout was allowed to finish the course, though three others who took part in the commencement exercises at President Swain's invitation were also given degrees. No visitors came from a distance; the only outsiders were about thirty Federal soldiers posted to keep order.

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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 4, 2026.