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Key local figure

Kemp Plummer Battle

Kemp Plummer Battle led the reorganization that reopened the university in 1875 and was its president from 1876 to 1891, then returned to the faculty as Alumni Professor of History and wrote a two-volume history of the university. A signer of the 1861 secession ordinance, he enslaved dozens of people on his wife's Edgecombe farms and in Raleigh.

Source: UNC Commission on History, Race, and a Way Forward: Battle Hall (report with appendix)

1831–1919 · Dates from the Library of Congress · Library of Congress authority record ↗

35 works about Kemp Plummer Battle are indexed here.

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Kemp Plummer Battle, 1919
Kemp Plummer Battle, 1919

Life and Orange County connections

Storylines this person is part of, in date order. Select a title to open its page or chronology entry.

The university closes and reopens1868 to 1875 · 78 events · Reconstruction Republicans took control of the trustees in 1868 and dismissed the old faculty; Solomon Pool's presidency drew almost no students, and the university closed in February 1871. The legislature revived it in March 1875, Cornelia Phillips Spencer rang the bell, and it reopened in September under a rebuilt faculty. The University's summer schools for teachers, 1877–19071877–1907 · For three decades the university used its summers to train the state's teachers, though the work stopped and started. The General Assembly set up a Summer Normal School there in 1877 to train white teachers, and President Kemp Battle and the Board of Education admitted white women, though state money could not be spent on them. Its last session was in 1884. In 1894 Edwin A. Alderman opened a Summer School for Teachers and Students, and in 1900, by Battle's account, the first summer term of degree courses began. The trustees' executive committee held no summer school for teachers in 1905, but N. W. Walker revived it in 1907 and directed it for twenty-seven years. Building the State University Railroad, 1879–18831879–1883 · 29 events · Chapel Hill's railroad to University Station was graded by state convicts; a guard shot one dead as he ran, and an overseer was charged with cruelly whipping another, a Black convict named Fries, who died. A coroner's jury found other causes, and Battle wrote that the solicitor found no ground to prosecute. In 1879 the legislature had rechartered a stalled iron-mine line as the State University Railroad, and in January 1880 the stockholders adopted Kemp P. Battle's resolution to run it from Chapel Hill to University Station, and the directors elected him president. The first passenger train left Chapel Hill in February 1882, and by July mail ran on the line. The University's state money, 1881–18891881–1889 · In 1881, according to Lefler and Wager, the General Assembly voted the university its first regular appropriation for maintenance, and within a few years the university both gained and lost state money. An 1885 act added $15,000 a year, and the trustees enlarged the faculty from nine to fifteen. In 1887, after a campaign led by Leonidas L. Polk, the General Assembly took the university's $7,500 yearly land-scrip interest for a separate Agricultural and Mechanical College at Raleigh. The university dropped pedagogics, mining engineering and other courses, and unable to pay the chairs added in 1885, the trustees let three professors go in 1888. In 1889 William Cain's election let the faculty begin teaching civil engineering. Building Memorial Hall, 1883–18851883–1885 · 16 events · Memorial Hall began with a promise from Governor Thomas J. Jarvis at the June 1883 commencement, when Gerrard Hall overflowed, and with a planned monument to the late president David L. Swain. The board ordered a large hall instead of an obelisk, and the cornerstone was laid on September 25, 1883. Work stopped that winter because the architect, Samuel Sloan, had underestimated the cost; Kemp P. Battle and George T. Winston canvassed the state for memorial tablets, and work resumed in the spring. After Sloan died in 1884 his chief carpenter finished the hall, with Paul C. Cameron advancing funds without security. It was dedicated on June 3, 1885, with the state's bill for its prison brick still unpaid. The Farmers' Alliance in Orange County, 1887–18951887–1895 · Orange County farmers began organizing in 1887 and within a year had joined the Farmers' Alliance. Bingham Township farmers formed a club at Oaks that June, and in September an Orange County Club organized under Alex. McIver, though small attendance soon led it to put off a farmers' institute. After the Alliance's state organizer spoke at Hillsborough in March 1888, chapters formed quickly, and on May 18 delegates created the County Alliance under Sheriff John Knox Hughes. It opened an exchange in Hillsborough in 1890 and in 1891 endorsed the sub-treasury plan and all the Alliance demands. In 1893 a county committee called a bill to repeal the State Alliance charter a scheme to destroy the order.
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George T. Winston’s presidency of the University, 1890–18961890–1896 · 13 events · George T. Winston became president of the University in 1891, when Kemp P. Battle left the office after fifteen years to take a chair of history that alumni had answered a call to endow, and he led it through rising enrollment and a fight over its state appropriation. He and a faculty committee ended a campus feud by barring students from fraternities until a year after matriculation. In 1895 he rallied alumni legislators against a cut in the appropriation and prevailed after Populist leader Marion Butler came out for the university. Enrollment reached 403 that March and 534 in the 1896 catalogue. In July 1896 Winston resigned to become president of the University of Texas. Gimghoul Castle at Piney Prospect, 1924–19311924–1931 · 6 events · With money from their lot sales, the Order of Gimghouls built a stone castle on the crest at Dromgoole Rock near Piney Prospect, at the spot where legend placed Dromgoole's fatal duel and burial. Members and alumni agreed unanimously in June 1924 to build the lodge, and the Weekly put the likely cost at $35,000 to $45,000. Some 1,300 tons of stone were hauled in, stonemasons came from the Waldensian settlement at Valdese, and Charlie Lee Martindale was general contractor. The order first gathered in the castle in May 1926. After repeated break-ins, apparently by students, it had wrought-iron grills fitted over the windows and added heavy doors and bolts by 1931.

Dated events connected with this person, in date order. See these 102 dated events in the chronology →

  1. William Horn Battle moves his family to Chapel Hill and buys a house beside the campus Judge William H. Battle moved his family from Raleigh to Chapel Hill in 1843 so his sons could attend the university. He bought a house near the campus and enlarged it, adding quarters for the people the family enslaved. People: Kemp Plummer BattleSearch the index · UNC Libraries: Slaves of Faculty and Townspeople (Slavery and the Making of the University)
  2. Literary societies move into new halls in the enlarged Old East and Old West The northward extensions of Old East and Old West, designed by A. J. Davis and built by Isaac J. Collier and Kendall B. Waitt for $9,360, were finished in 1848 with debating halls and library alcoves for the two societies. At the Dialectic opening James Mebane, the society's first president in 1795, sat beside the student president, Kemp P. Battle. People: Samuel (Samuel Field) Phillips, Alexander Jackson Davis, Kemp Plummer Battle, Isaac J. Collier, Samuel Field Phillips, James Mebane, Kendall B. WaittSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. I (1907), p. 513
  3. Swain and the faculty resign as trustees plan a new university At a meeting Governor Jonathan Worth called to face the university's collapse, Charles Phillips presented the resignations of President Swain, Professors Hubbard, Fetter and Smith, law professor William H. Battle and himself, and the trustees adopted Kemp P. Battle's resolution for a committee to plan an elective university system with higher standards. People: David L. Swain, Charles Phillips, Kemp Plummer Battle, Jonathan WorthDocumenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. I (1907), p. 763
  4. Trustees adopt an elective system of ten schools Over William A. Graham's dissent, the trustees voted 18 to 3 for Kemp P. Battle's committee plan to replace the fixed four-year course with ten independent schools, from political science to modern languages, beginning in fall 1868. After the new state constitution put the university under a new board, the old trustees on June 4, 1868 reappointed Swain and the faculty and rescinded the plan. People: William A. Graham, Kemp Plummer BattleDocumenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. I (1907), p. 766
  5. The Chapel of the Cross nearly empties while the university is closed When the university shut in 1868 most parishioners left Chapel Hill, and for a time the parish had too few men to form a vestry. Lay readers and a monthly visit from R. B. Sutton kept services going; Sutton was still taking the morning service in April 1878. Joseph Blount Cheshire Jr., assigned to the parish, took charge in May 1878. People: Fordyce M. Hubbard, Kemp Plummer Battle, John Kimberly, Joseph Blount Cheshire Jr.Archibald Henderson, The Church of the Atonement and the Chapel of the Cross at Chapel Hill (1938), scan p. 54 · Also: The Chapel Hill Ledger, April 18, 1878, p. 3; The Chapel Hill Ledger, May 18, 1878, p. 3
  6. Commissioner's report keeps the campus and 600 acres for the university Commissioner George H. Snow inspected Chapel Hill in the summer of 1874 with trustees Paul C. Cameron, John Manning and Kemp P. Battle, and on Judge Bond's advice to be liberal the court left the university its campus, faculty houses, libraries and 600 acres. The outlying land, including about seventy acres at Piney Prospect, was sold, and Cameron bought the parcels along with the escheated mountain lands to secure his sister Mildred Cameron's debt. People: Paul C. Cameron, John Manning, Kemp Plummer BattleDocumenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. II (1912), p. 59
  7. The General Assembly elects sixty-four trustees, who organize under William A. Graham with Kemp Battle as secretary and treasurer By an act of January 28, 1874, the legislature elected sixty-four university trustees by joint ballot, only two of them from the Reconstruction board, and fourteen of them men removed in 1868. The new board first met on February 18, 1874, in the Citizens National Bank in Raleigh, elected William A. Graham of Hillsborough its president and Kemp P. Battle its secretary and treasurer, named an executive committee, and the next day sent a committee to inspect Chapel Hill, after Governor Tod R. Caldwell declined to preside because he held the legislature had no power to elect trustees. People: William A. Graham, Kemp Plummer Battle, Paul C. Cameron, John Manning, Tod Robinson Caldwell, William L. SaundersInternet Archive: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. 2 (1912), full text
  8. University trustees declare the presidency vacant and order legal action against Solomon Pool Meeting in Raleigh, the new university trustees heard W. L. Steele's report that Solomon Pool refused to give up the presidency and named William A. Graham, J. J. Davis and K. P. Battle to take legal action to settle the board's control. They declared the presidency and professorships vacant and told the treasurer to demand the seal, keys and records. People: Solomon Pool, William A. Graham, Kemp Plummer BattleHillsborough Recorder, April 15, 1874, p. 3
  9. The new trustees sue Solomon Pool and Alexander McIver at Orange Superior Court and win possession of the university in the Supreme Court At the May 1874 term of Orange Superior Court the new board brought one action against Superintendent Alexander McIver, who held the university's seal and books and had agreed to a friendly test suit, and another against Solomon Pool for the buildings. Judge Albion W. Tourgee ruled against the trustees; John W. Graham and James A. Graham of Hillsborough argued for them without fee, as did B. F. Moore and William H. Battle on appeal in June 1874. At its January term 1875 the state Supreme Court decided for the university on every point, and possession passed to Andrew Mickle, the board's agent, with the seal, books and papers going to Treasurer Kemp Battle. People: Solomon Pool, Kemp Plummer Battle, Alexander McIver, John W. Graham, Andrew Mickle, Albion W. Tourgee, Bartholomew F. Moore, James Augustus Graham, William Horn BattleInternet Archive: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. 2 (1912), full text
  10. Trustees adopt a six-college plan and set aside ground for athletics The trustees adopted Kemp P. Battle's committee report to reopen the university on the first Monday of September with colleges of agriculture, engineering, natural science, literature, mathematics and philosophy, meant to satisfy the 1862 land-grant act. They also reserved the eastern part of the campus along the Raleigh Road for athletics and a parade ground. People: John Manning, Kemp Plummer BattleDocumenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. II (1912), p. 71
  11. Kemp Battle's subscription drive raises $20,167 and Paul Cameron repairs the campus for the reopening After the trustees on May 5, 1875, appointed a committee to seek gifts for the revival, Kemp P. Battle canvassed Raleigh, Goldsboro, Rocky Mount and Tarboro in person and the rest of the state by letter, reporting $18,787 in six weeks and $20,167 in twelve, at a total expense of $62.66; Zebulon B. Vance and Charles W. Broadfoot collected in Charlotte and Fayetteville, and women's groups sent scientific apparatus through Cornelia Phillips Spencer. Paul C. Cameron, without contractor or pay, spent the summer at Chapel Hill directing the repairs and reported on August 31 that he had spent $10,677.76 on the buildings and $2,249.09 on gas works and apparatus. People: Kemp Plummer Battle, Paul C. Cameron, Cornelia Phillips Spencer, Zebulon B. Vance, Washington Caruthers Kerr, Rufus Lenoir PattersonInternet Archive: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. 2 (1912), full text
  12. Rufus L. Patterson moves a loan to repair the university buildings and offers to stand surety At the trustees' reorganization meeting, Patterson moved that the treasurer be allowed to borrow $5,000 if needed to repair the Chapel Hill buildings, and volunteered to be surety for the university. People: Kemp Plummer Battle, Paul C. CameronSearch the index · Internet Archive: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. 2 (1912), full text
Show all 102 dated events
  1. Trustees burn the repudiated railroad bonds As the act restoring the land-scrip fund required, trustees B. F. Moore, David M. Carter and Kemp P. Battle burned 160 special tax bonds of $1,000 each issued for the Western North Carolina Railroad, with Seaton Gales as witness. In return the state had given the university its bond for the $125,000 fund, paying $7,500 a year. People: Kemp Plummer Battle, Bartholomew F. MooreDocumenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. II (1912), p. 70
  2. UNC reopens The university resumed classes on Monday, September 6, 1875, after more than four years closed, with Charles Phillips as chairman of the faculty, and held a public celebration on September 15. Kemp P. Battle, then secretary of the trustees, was elected president in 1876. People: Kemp Plummer Battle, Charles PhillipsUNC Libraries, History on the Hill: Chronological List of Events
  3. Kemp Plummer Battle buys his father's Chapel Hill house and names it Senlac Returning to Chapel Hill in 1876 to become university president, Battle bought the family house from his father, added a one-story wing on each side and named it Senlac. The house stands on Battle Lane. People: William Horn BattleSearch the index · UNC Libraries: Slaves of Faculty and Townspeople (Slavery and the Making of the University)
  4. Kemp Plummer Battle becomes president and reorganizes the university The trustees, meeting in Raleigh on June 15, 1876, elected Kemp Plummer Battle president, and he reorganized the reopened university that year. He served until 1891 and later wrote its two-volume history. People: Kemp Plummer BattleLefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 152 · Also: Hillsborough Recorder, June 21, 1876, p. 3
  5. The university sets aside a hall for a museum and asks the state for specimens President Kemp P. Battle announced that the University had secured a hall for a museum and asked friends of the institution to send animals, plants, minerals, ores and manufactured articles showing the resources of the state, with directions for collecting and preserving them prepared by the professor of natural history. People: Kemp Plummer BattleSearch the index · Hillsborough Recorder, November 29, 1876, p. 3
  6. McIver heads mathematics at the university's summer normal schools Then principal of the Greensboro graded schools, McIver was chief of the mathematics department at the 1877 Summer Normal School in Chapel Hill and taught mathematics, English grammar and physiology at the 1878 session. People: Kemp Plummer BattleSearch the index · Internet Archive: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. 2 (1912), full text
  7. State experiment station opens at Chapel Hill After Kemp P. Battle pressed for it with the State Grange and farm societies, the legislature created a Board of Agriculture, taxed commercial fertilizers and placed an experiment station at the university, whose trustees elected Albert R. Ledoux its chemist in 1877. Working in Smith Hall it analyzed fertilizers, seeds, soils and waters until it moved to Raleigh in 1881. People: Kemp Plummer Battle, Washington Caruthers Kerr, Albert R. LedouxSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. II (1912), p. 136 · Also: Chapel Hill Weekly, April 20, 1928, p. 5
  8. The university holds its first summer session, a state normal school for teachers In the summer of 1877 the university hosted a statewide Summer Normal School, set up by the General Assembly in March 1877 to train white teachers for the common schools. President Kemp Battle and the Board of Education admitted white women to its classes, though state money could not be spent on them.Search the index · UNC University Archives, For the Record: Women Students in the Summer Normal School at UNC
  9. William Horn Battle returns to Chapel Hill to teach law Battle had left for Raleigh in 1868 when Reconstruction politics disrupted the university. When his law school reopened at Chapel Hill in January 1877, while his son Kemp was president, he returned as professor of law, and he taught until he resigned in January 1879, shortly before his death that March. People: Kemp Plummer BattleSearch the index · Catalogue of the Trustees, Faculty and Students of the University of North Carolina, 1876-77 (1877): faculty list and Law School (with Battle, History of the University, vol. II, pp. 126, 167-169) · Also: UNC Libraries: Slaves of Faculty and Townspeople
  10. Kemp Battle addresses Orange County farmers at Chapel Hill University president Kemp P. Battle spoke to the farmers of the county at Chapel Hill, repeating his winter address to the legislature and telling how neighboring families had given about 1,180 acres to win the university its site. The farmer turnout was small for want of notice, though students, ladies and village men filled the hall.Search the index · Hillsborough Recorder, April 11, 1877, p. 3
  11. Governor Vance closes the first summer normal school at Chapel Hill The university's first summer normal school ended with a week of closing events: lectures by George W. Graham and Paul C. Cameron, a concert in the college chapel, and closing exercises on Thursday, August 9, at which Governor Zebulon Vance gave the final address. The session had drawn 235 teachers from 44 counties. People: Kemp Plummer Battle, Paul C. CameronSearch the index · Hillsborough Recorder, August 15, 1877, p. 3
  12. University Day is established At Kemp P. Battle's request, seconded by Zebulon B. Vance, the executive committee made October 12, the anniversary of the laying of Old East's cornerstone in 1793, a permanent holiday. At the first observance in Gerrard Hall, decorated by Cornelia Phillips Spencer and village women, Battle spoke on the charter and the cornerstone. People: Zebulon B. Vance, Cornelia Phillips Spencer, Kemp Plummer BattleSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. II (1912), p. 135
  13. Bursar Andrew Mickle helps poor teachers through the university's summer normal school At the summer normal school the university lent its dormitories and bedding and let teachers cook for themselves, so that many lived on $4 or $5 a month. Andrew Mickle, the school's business agent, worked tirelessly to advise and help those who needed it. People: Kemp Plummer BattleSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. II (1912), p. 161
  14. William L. Saunders becomes secretary of the university, and later its treasurer as well After Seaton Gales died in 1878, the trustees chose Saunders as the university's secretary; once President Battle gave up the treasurership, Saunders held both offices, which he kept until his death in 1891. People: Kemp Plummer BattleSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. II (1912), p. 125
  15. Joseph Blount Cheshire is assigned to the Chapel of the Cross in Chapel Hill Ordered deacon at Tarboro on 21 April 1878, Cheshire was assigned by Bishop Thomas Atkinson to the Chapel of the Cross in Chapel Hill at the request of university president Kemp P. Battle. He served his diaconate there under Robert Sutton, rector of the Pittsboro parish. People: Kemp Plummer BattleSearch the index · NCpedia: Cheshire, Joseph Blount, Jr. · Also: The Chapel Hill Ledger, May 18, 1878, p. 3
  16. Summer Normal School offers the state's first kindergarten training Emily M. Coe of New York taught a class of teachers the kindergarten method at the university's 1878 Summer Normal School, with 53 children drilled daily. Battle believed it the first normal kindergarten class in North Carolina; the session enrolled 402 teachers, 190 of them women. People: Kemp Plummer BattleSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. II (1912), p. 158 · Also: Chapel Hill Weekly, February 10, 1928, p. 1
  17. Thomas L. Clingman lectures the Normal School on the follies of the positive philosophers Former Senator Thomas L. Clingman spoke to the Normal School and a crowd of visitors in Gerrard Hall on "The Follies of the Positive Philosophers", attacking Darwin, Tyndall and materialism. President Kemp P. Battle introduced him. People: Kemp Plummer BattleSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Ledger, June 29, 1878, p. 2
  18. Teachers at the Normal School form a State Teachers' Association Teachers attending the 1878 University Normal School organized a State Teachers' Association with Kemp P. Battle as president and began forming county associations. They also petitioned the legislature to continue the school. People: Kemp Plummer BattleSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. II (1912), p. 160 · Also: The Chapel Hill Ledger, July 13, 1878, p. 2
  19. Mrs. Swain gives her husband's papers to the Historical Society at the university The widow of former university president David L. Swain turned over the documents in her husband's charge to the State Historical Society, and President Kemp Battle gave the collection a room at the university. People: Kemp Plummer Battle, David L. SwainSearch the index · Hillsborough Recorder, September 11, 1878, p. 3
  20. The university begins grading students on daily recitations and term standing President Battle announced at the opening of the fall session that students would be graded by their daily recitations and standing through the term, and not so much by final examinations as before. The Ledger said the change did away with cramming and that the students were working harder than in any earlier session. People: Kemp Plummer BattleSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Ledger, October 12, 1878, p. 2
  21. President Battle tells the history of the university buildings on University Day On a dark, rainy University Day that kept the audience small, President Kemp P. Battle spoke on the history of the university buildings, from Old East and the Old Chapel to Gerrard Hall, Smith Hall and the 1850s buildings, and the choir sang the University Song by Cornelia Phillips Spencer. John W. Norwood, one of the last survivors of his college class, then praised the university for joining science and agriculture. People: John Wall Norwood, Cornelia Phillips SpencerSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Ledger, October 12, 1878, p. 2
  22. The railroad is rechartered as the State University Railroad The legislature rechartered the stalled iron-mine line as the State University Railroad, shifting its purpose to a rail link for the university, with UNC president Kemp P. Battle working alongside Hoke to raise funds. People: Kemp Plummer Battle, Robert F. HokeOrangePolitics: Road to Iron Mountain: The railroad comes to Chapel Hill
  23. Prof. W. F. Wheeler exhibits the phonograph at the university Prof. W. F. Wheeler exhibited the phonograph in Professor Simonds' recitation room before a large audience of President Battle, the faculty and their families, students and townspeople. By request he gave a second exhibition the next afternoon, at 25 cents for adults. People: Kemp Plummer BattleSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Ledger, March 1, 1879, p. 3
  24. Judge William H. Battle dies at Chapel Hill William Horn Battle, former justice of the state Supreme Court, compiler of Battle's Revisal and long the university's professor of law, died at the Chapel Hill home of his son, President Kemp P. Battle, aged 76. After a memorial service in the university chapel on March 16, students and townspeople escorted his body out of town; it lay in state in the rotunda in Raleigh, and he was buried in Oakwood Cemetery after services at Christ Church. People: Kemp Plummer Battle, Joseph Blount CheshireSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Ledger, March 22, 1879, p. 2
  25. Corporators of the State University Railroad meet at Chapel Hill and open books for stock Corporators of the rechartered State University Railroad met at the Chapel Hill law office of Watson and Alexander, with Paul C. Cameron in the chair after Kemp P. Battle explained the charter. They opened subscription books at twelve places from Hillsborough and Durham to Pittsboro and Raleigh, named three commissioners at each, and refused conditional subscriptions. People: Paul C. Cameron, Kemp Plummer Battle, Julian S. Carr, James B. Mason, John R. HutchinsThe Chapel Hill Ledger, April 19, 1879, p. 3
  26. The university's catalogue for 1878-79 lists 201 students and a new Mangum oratory medal The catalogue for 1878-79 counted 201 students and 13 members of the faculty, with President Battle filling the law chair left vacant by Judge Battle's death. It listed six gold medals or prizes, among them a medal for oratory given by the Misses Mangum in memory of their father. People: Kemp Plummer BattleSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Ledger, May 17, 1879, p. 2
  27. Dr. Moses D. Hoge of Richmond addresses the literary societies in place of Senator Thurman When Senator Allen G. Thurman of Ohio could not leave Washington, Dr. Hoge of Richmond, invited to preach to the graduating class, agreed to address the Dialectic and Philanthropic societies instead. He spoke on the beauty and nobility of an unselfish life before a large commencement crowd that included Governor Jarvis. People: Thomas Jordan Jarvis, Kemp Plummer BattleSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Ledger, June 7, 1879, p. 2
  28. The university gives honorary doctorates of laws to Samuel F. Phillips and Justices Ashe and Dillard At the eighty-fourth commencement the university conferred the LL.D. on Solicitor General Samuel F. Phillips and on Judges Ashe and Dillard of the state Supreme Court, a Ph.D. on state geologist W. C. Kerr, and the D.D. on several ministers including D. S. Sanderson of Eutaw, Alabama, and John T. Pickett of Vicksburg. People: Washington Caruthers Kerr, Kemp Plummer Battle, Samuel (Samuel Field) PhillipsSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Ledger, June 7, 1879, p. 2
  29. The University Normal School opens its third session, with women admitted on equal terms President Battle opened the third Normal School in the college chapel, crediting Dr. Barnas Sears and the legislature, and announced that women teachers now attended with full rights rather than as invited guests. John J. Ladd again served as superintendent with a faculty including Charles D. McIver, J. L. Tomlinson, W. F. Tillett, W. B. Phillips and Miss E. M. Coe in the kindergarten, and about 150 were enrolled by the fourth day. People: Kemp Plummer Battle, William Battle PhillipsSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Ledger, June 21, 1879, p. 2
  30. The State Teachers' Association holds its annual meeting at the Normal School The State Teachers' Association, formed at the Normal School the summer before, met at Chapel Hill with an opening speech by President Battle and an address by State Superintendent John C. Scarborough on the common school system. It discontinued its bureau, discussed founding an educational journal and recommended women teachers for the public schools; the paper noted that the year's effort to form county associations had failed. People: Kemp Plummer BattleSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Ledger, July 5, 1879, p. 2
  31. President Battle lectures the Normal School on the history of Chapel Hill President Kemp P. Battle gave the Normal School a lecture on the geography and history of Chapel Hill: how the university's site was settled by ballot and a committee, how the campus and its first buildings were laid out, and the local place names.Search the index · The Chapel Hill Ledger, July 26, 1879, p. 2
  32. The third University Normal School closes with its commencement The university's third summer Normal School, which had about 250 teachers in attendance in early July, closed with a concert, a commencement of debates, essays and orations before a crowded chapel, and a promenade. During the session the people of Chapel Hill and the teachers gave the school a melodeon, and afternoon classes and examinations for teachers' certificates were added. People: Kemp Plummer BattleSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Ledger, July 26, 1879, p. 2
  33. A meeting at Chapel Hill hears the case for graded schools A graded school meeting held during the Normal School heard President Battle, Prof. Ladd on the graded schools of Staunton, Virginia, Professors McIver, Dugger and Winston, and Chapel Hill citizens Jones Watson and H. B. Guthrie. Through the summer the Ledger and its correspondents urged a graded public school for Chapel Hill. People: Kemp Plummer Battle, Jones Watson, Hugh B. GuthrieThe Chapel Hill Ledger, July 5, 1879, p. 2
  34. University faculty start Sunday Bible classes that every student must attend President Kemp P. Battle, Dr. A. R. Ledoux and Professors Redd, Mangum and Hooper each organized a Sunday Bible class, and students were required to attend one of them. The topics ran from the evidences of Christianity to the geography of Palestine and readings in the Greek Testament. People: Kemp Plummer Battle, Albert R. LedouxSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Ledger, September 20, 1879, p. 3
  35. Baptist minister James P. Mason speaks at University Day At the 1879 University Day exercises, after President Kemp Battle's historical address, short talks were given by the Rev. Joseph Blount Cheshire, the Rev. James Pleasant Mason, the Methodist minister Mr. Heitman and several professors. People: Kemp Plummer Battle, Joseph Blount Cheshire Jr.Search the index · Internet Archive: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. 2 (1912)
  36. University Railroad corporators open subscription books for a line from Chapel Hill to Durham Meeting at Chapel Hill with Jones Watson in the chair, the corporators of the State University Railroad adopted Kemp P. Battle's plan to seek $10,000 in stock for a line from Chapel Hill to Durham, and named a committee to canvass Durham and other places. Chapel Hill men subscribed $2,800 on the spot, led by Battle, S. M. Barbee and D. McCauley at $500 each. People: Jones Watson, Kemp Plummer Battle, Julian S. CarrThe Chapel Hill Ledger, November 15, 1879, p. 2
  37. Battle, Redd and Winston speak for the University Railroad at Chapel Hill Chapel Hill citizens met to hear university president Kemp P. Battle and professors Redd and Winston argue that the railroad to the North Carolina Railroad should be built now, while the state offered convict labor. Further subscriptions were reported in the following weeks. People: Kemp Plummer Battle, George Tayloe WinstonThe Chapel Hill Ledger, November 22, 1879, p. 2
  38. Robert F. Hoke serves as unpaid superintendent of the State University Railroad As the branch from University Station toward Chapel Hill got under way, university president Kemp P. Battle became president of the railroad company and General Robert F. Hoke its superintendent, both without salary, by Battle's account. John Holt managed the convict work force and Captain Fry was the civil engineer. The Chapel Hill Ledger reported that on January 8, 1880, the new directors, Hoke among them, elected Battle president and Andrew Mickle paid secretary and treasurer, and named Hoke to the committee to secure the convicts. People: Kemp Plummer BattleSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. II (1912), p. 246 · Also: The Chapel Hill Ledger, January 10, 1880, p. 2; The Chapel Hill Ledger, March 27, 1880, p. 3
  39. State convicts build the University Railroad Governor Thomas J. Jarvis supplied state convicts at low hire to grade the line from University Station to Chapel Hill, while the Richmond and Danville company laid the rails. A white convict was shot dead while fleeing, and a Black convict named Fries died of gangrene after a whipping by the road's managers, which the solicitor found no ground to prosecute. People: Kemp Plummer Battle, Alexander Boyd Andrews, Robert F. Hoke, Thomas Jordan Jarvis, Frederick N. StrudwickSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. II (1912), p. 246
  40. William George Randall walks from Burke County to Chapel Hill to enter the university Randall walked to Chapel Hill in the fall of 1880, was interviewed by President Kemp Battle and was helped by the Deems Fund. The Dialectic Society paid him as its librarian, the first year the post carried a salary. People: Kemp Plummer BattleSearch the index · NCpedia: Randall, William George
  41. University Railroad directors elect Kemp P. Battle president and Andrew Mickle treasurer Meeting right after the stockholders, the directors elected Kemp P. Battle president and Andrew Mickle secretary and treasurer at $200 a year, put Col. Thomas M. Holt on the board in Battle's place, and named Hoke and A. B. Andrews to arrange for convict labor and a survey. People: Kemp Plummer Battle, Andrew Mickle, Robert F. Hoke, Alexander Boyd AndrewsThe Chapel Hill Ledger, January 10, 1880, p. 2
  42. University Railroad stockholders organize and run the line to University Station Stockholders of the University Railroad Company met at President Battle's office with $10,160 of stock taken. After Julian S. Carr and Paul C. Cameron argued for Durham, they adopted Battle's resolution to locate the road from Chapel Hill to University Station, elected Cameron, Hoke, McCauley, Carr and Battle directors, and called in a quarter of the stock. People: Paul C. Cameron, Kemp Plummer Battle, Robert F. Hoke, Julian S. Carr, David McCauleyThe Chapel Hill Ledger, January 10, 1880, p. 2
  43. Kemp P. Battle defends the University Station route for the railroad Answering a correspondent who predicted the road would fail, Kemp P. Battle wrote that he had canvassed Chapel Hill and Durham for a line to Durham, but only about $5,000 could be expected there, so the shorter line from University Station was taken. Chapel Hill had subscribed $4,500, and the Iron Mine Company was helping to build the road. People: Kemp Plummer BattleThe Chapel Hill Ledger, February 21, 1880, p. 2
  44. The General Assembly makes its first regular appropriation to the university In 1881 the General Assembly voted the university its first regular appropriation for maintenance, secured under President Kemp Battle. Until then the state had given no specific money for its upkeep. People: Kemp Plummer BattleSearch the index · Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 150
  45. Commencement celebrates the railroad's arrival, and Battle calls Hoke its father At the 1882 commencement an hour was set aside in Gerrard Hall to celebrate the railroad's coming to Chapel Hill. Kemp P. Battle told the history of the line and called General Robert F. Hoke the source of the enterprise and the father of the State University Railroad Company. People: Kemp Plummer Battle, Paul C. Cameron, Thomas Jordan JarvisSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. II (1912), pp. 251-252
  46. Governor Jarvis promises a commencement crowd a hall large enough for all With Gerrard Hall overflowing at the 1883 commencement, President Kemp Battle asked Governor Thomas J. Jarvis to promise a bigger building, and Jarvis made the promise to applause. He backed the plan at the next trustees meeting and offered bricks from the state penitentiary on easy terms, and the project became Memorial Hall. People: Kemp Plummer BattleSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. II (1912), p. 315
  47. Memorial Hall rises at UNC under Paul C. Cameron's building committee The cornerstone of Swain Memorial Hall was laid on September 25, 1883, and the hall was dedicated on June 3, 1885, honoring President David L. Swain, faculty and the university's Confederate dead. Paul C. Cameron, president of the Alumni Association and chairman of the building committee, raised money for it and gave money himself. People: Kemp Plummer Battle, David L. Swain, Thomas Jordan JarvisSearch the index · UNC Libraries: Names in Brick and Stone, Memorial Hall
  48. Kemp P. Battle gives a University Day address on the history of the campus buildings In Gerrard Hall on University Day, President Kemp P. Battle traced each university building from the laying of the Old East cornerstone in 1793 to Memorial Hall, then under construction. The address was printed as a pamphlet.Search the index · Kemp P. Battle, An Address on the History of the Buildings of the University of North Carolina (1883), scan p. 5
  49. Work on Memorial Hall stops for the winter after a cost miscalculation Battle told the students that construction of Memorial Hall would pause over the winter because the architect had underestimated the cost and the treasury needed refilling. Builders also advised letting the green roof timbers dry under cover before work resumed in the spring. People: Kemp Plummer BattleSearch the index · Kemp P. Battle, An Address on the History of the Buildings of the University of North Carolina (1883), scan p. 18
  50. Battle and Winston canvass the state for Memorial Hall tablets With work on Memorial Hall stopped over the winter of 1883-84 because money from the trustees and alumni had dried up, the building committee decided to ask families of distinguished men tied to the university to pay for white marble memorial tablets on the hall's walls. President Kemp P. Battle and Professor George T. Winston canvassed the state in person and by letter and signed up ninety-eight tablets. By late January 1884 families such as the Moreheads had subscribed, and work was to resume in March. People: George Tayloe WinstonSearch the index · University of North Carolina, Memorial Hall Inaugural Proceedings, Wednesday, June 3, 1885 (1885), scan p. 10 · Also: Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), February 2, 1884, p. 2
  51. Governor Jonathan Worth's portrait is given to the university At the 1884 commencement John Manning presented an oil portrait of Worth on behalf of the late governor's grandsons, recalling his nearly thirty years as a university trustee. President Battle accepted it, Governor Jarvis spoke, and the portrait was hung beside those of Davie, Caldwell and Swain. People: John Manning, Kemp Plummer Battle, Thomas Jordan JarvisSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. II (1912), p. 281
  52. Orange County's Black teachers petition the commissioners for a summer teachers' institute Meeting at Hillsborough in larger numbers than ever before, the county's Black teachers adopted a petition asking the county commissioners to spend the money the law allowed on a teachers' institute for them that summer. The white association met the same day, discussed school committees, textbooks and a four-month term, and made university president K. P. Battle an honorary member. People: James L. Currie, Kemp Plummer BattleSearch the index · Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), April 26, 1884, p. 2
  53. The University Summer Normal School holds its last session The eighth and last session enrolled 305 teachers, after which the legislature divided the $2,000 yearly appropriation among four normal schools chosen by the Board of Education. Battle counted 2,480 enrollments at Chapel Hill from 1877 through 1884. People: Kemp Plummer BattleSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. II (1912), p. 287
  54. The university makes Governor Jarvis a doctor of laws At the 1884 commencement, his last as governor and president of the trustees, Jarvis received an honorary LL.D. and told the graduates that they were the university. Kemp Battle said the university owed him more than any other man for its railroad, Memorial Hall and money in times of need. People: Kemp Plummer BattleSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. II (1912), p. 286 · Also: Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), June 14, 1884, p. 2
  55. The General Assembly adds $15,000 a year to the university's support An Act for the Maintenance of the University, introduced by Lee S. Overman and passed by the House 58 to 32, added $15,000 a year, payable quarterly. Because the $2,000 normal school grant was moved to other schools, the net gain was $13,000, and the act also ended the rule that county scholarship students must teach. People: Kemp Plummer Battle, Lee S. OvermanSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. II (1912), p. 307
  56. The trustees bar dancing from university buildings Pressed by church members who opposed the modern dance, the trustees prohibited the commencement ball in Smith Hall or any other university building. Battle welcomed the ban because he wanted Smith Hall kept as a library. People: Paul C. Cameron, Kemp Plummer BattleSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. II (1912), p. 312 · Also: Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), February 21, 1885, p. 3
  57. Mary Ruffin Smith dies and leaves the university a Chatham County plantation Smith, daughter of the Orange County doctor and congressman James S. Smith, left about 1,500 acres in Chatham County to the university to educate poor students, the Francis Jones Smith Fund. She left small bequests to people formerly enslaved in her household and most of her estate to the Episcopal Church, with Kemp Battle as executor. People: Kemp Plummer Battle, Mary Ruffin SmithSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. II (1912), p. 344 · Also: Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), November 21, 1885, p. 3
  58. The legislature moves the land-grant income from the university to a new A. and M. College After a campaign led by Leonidas L. Polk, the General Assembly of 1887 took the $7,500 yearly land-scrip interest from the university for a separate Agricultural and Mechanical College at Raleigh, leaving the university $20,000 a year. A House bill to cut that to $12,500 was tabled, and the university dropped pedagogics, mining engineering, animal breeding and practical horticulture. People: Kemp Plummer BattleSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. II (1912), p. 375
  59. Orange County farmers organize the Orange County Club at the court house After a July 30 mass meeting addressed by Kemp P. Battle, farmers met at the court house on September 17, adopted a constitution and by-laws reported by S. S. Webb, and elected Alexander McIver of Oaks president of the Orange County Club, with William D. Latta, N. D. Bain and Thomas H. Hughes as the other officers. Twenty-nine farmers enrolled, and a committee was named to consider forming a farmers' institute. People: Alexander McIver, Kemp Plummer Battle, Nathaniel D. BainSearch the index · Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), September 24, 1887, p. 3
  60. President Battle calls the faculty and students to form a society for North Carolina history University president Kemp P. Battle called a night meeting of the faculty and students to organize a society for the study of North Carolina history, which the Recorder said the state had long neglected.Search the index · Hillsboro Recorder, October 13, 1887, p. 3
  61. The university offers a free three-month course for teachers The university issued a circular from President Battle offering a special three-month course for teachers, mainly a review of the common-school subjects, free of charge if at least fifteen teachers enrolled. People: Kemp Plummer BattleSearch the index · Hillsboro Recorder, October 20, 1887, p. 2
  62. James Lee Love takes over the mathematics courses during Ralph Graves's last illness When Professor Ralph H. Graves fell gravely ill, President Battle put Love in charge of mathematics. At George Winston's insistence a man was called from Johns Hopkins, and Love brought in his friend Mansfield T. Peed to take the freshmen while he taught the sophomores and juniors; after Graves died the trustees chose William Cain over Love for the chair. People: Ralph Henry Graves (1851-1889), Kemp Plummer Battle, George Tayloe WinstonSearch the index · James Lee Love, Recollections (1920-1921), scan p. 249
  63. Cornelia Phillips Spencer compiles a catalogue of every student since 1795 For the 1889 centennial the university issued a general catalogue of students from 1795 to 1889, prepared by Cornelia Phillips Spencer after long correspondence and checked by Eben Alexander. It held 5,422 names, with Battle's sketches of the university's history. People: Eben Alexander, Kemp Plummer BattleSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. II (1912), p. 798
  64. Students found the Order of Gimghoul after hearing the Dromgoole story Five undergraduates founded a secret society after hearing university president Kemp Battle tell the Dromgoole story. They first called it the Order of Dromgoole and later shortened the name to Gimghoul. People: Kemp Plummer BattleIn the index: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill · UNC-Chapel Hill: Carolina ghost stories: Gimghoul Castle
  65. The university offers Mary Ruffin Smith's Jones Grove tract for sale in lots A committee of Kemp P. Battle, John Manning and A. H. Merritt advertised for sale, in lots, the 1,500-acre Jones Grove tract just over the line in Chatham County that Mary Ruffin Smith had left the university. The sales took years and brought about $15,000, part of it later lent to start Chapel Hill's first electric plant. People: Kemp Plummer Battle, John ManningSearch the index · UNC Libraries: Pauli Murray and UNC, Smith family and early UNC connections
  66. The university celebrates the centennial of its charter Alumni from Colorado to Florida filled Memorial Hall for a roll call of classes back to 1824, then sat down to a banquet for three hundred in Gerrard Hall with delegates from Harvard, Yale, Virginia and other schools. The reunion led to an annual alumni banquet, branch alumni associations and a drive to endow a chair of history. People: Kemp Plummer BattleSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. II (1912), p. 403
  67. The university opens a free three-month course for teachers The university offered a three-month course meant to train teachers, free of tuition and with no entrance examination, beginning in late February; teachers were told to write to President Battle for a circular. People: Kemp Plummer BattleSearch the index · Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), February 15, 1890, p. 2
  68. George Tayloe Winston serves as president of the university Elected president when Kemp Plummer Battle resigned in 1891, Winston led the university for five years, during which enrollment tripled to almost six hundred. In 1896 he left Chapel Hill to become the first president of the University of Texas. People: Kemp Plummer BattleSearch the index · UNC Libraries: George Tayloe Winston Papers, 1862-1969
  69. President Battle has the trees cleared from Piney Prospect Kemp P. Battle had the trees cut from Piney Prospect, the hill east of Chapel Hill that Davie had praised in 1793 for its view, and seats were set there for visitors. From it the spire of Trinity Church and the factory chimneys of Durham could be plainly seen.Search the index · The Chapel Hillian, January 12, 1891, p. 3
  70. Kemp Battle resigns the presidency to take the new chair of history Battle told the trustees in February 1891 that he would leave the presidency at the end of the session after fifteen years, and he became professor of history in the newly endowed chair. The trustees adopted resolutions of thanks. People: Kemp Plummer BattleSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. II (1912), p. 459 · Also: The Chapel Hillian, February 21, 1891, p. 1
  71. University trustees elect George T. Winston to succeed President Battle At a well attended meeting at Chapel Hill the trustees chose Prof. George Tayloe Winston president of the university. He took the place of Kemp P. Battle, who had resigned to take the chair of history. People: Kemp Plummer BattleSearch the index · Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), June 13, 1891, p. 2
  72. George T. Winston is inaugurated as president of the University of North Carolina Winston is installed at a public inauguration at Chapel Hill. Col. Thomas S. Kenan of the Alumni Association presides because the governor is detained, the president of Wake Forest opens with prayer, and Johns Hopkins president Gilman and editor Walter Page give addresses. The retiring president, Kemp P. Battle, briefly reviews the university's history. People: Kemp Plummer BattleSearch the index · Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), October 24, 1891, p. 2
  73. The University Magazine issues its Golden Jubilee number In 1894 the University Magazine marked fifty years since its first issue with a Golden Jubilee number, prepared largely by faculty editor Collier Cobb and filled with articles on the university's history. People: Collier Cobb, Kemp Plummer Battle, George Tayloe Winston, Stephen B. WeeksSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. II (1912), p. 739
  74. Foster Utley, the university's superintendent of repairs, dies at Chapel Hill Foster Utley, superintendent of repairs at the University of North Carolina and a Chapel Hill resident for about fifty years, died there at 74. His youngest son, Louis, was chosen to succeed him in keeping the university's buildings and water works in repair. People: Kemp Plummer BattleSearch the index · Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), June 23, 1894, p. 2
  75. Edwin Alderman is inaugurated as president in Gerrard Hall About a hundred legislators and Governor Daniel L. Russell rode a special train from Raleigh through sleet for the ceremony, where Kemp P. Battle presented Alderman and the new president spoke for an hour and a half on the university as the people's school. The lawmakers were made honorary members of the Di and Phi societies and met with school superintendents who had come to honor one of their own. People: Daniel Lindsay Russell, Kemp Plummer BattleSearch the index · Howard E. Covington Jr., Fire and Stone: The Making of the University of North Carolina under Presidents Edward Kidder Graham and Harry Woodburn Chase (2018), p. 31
  76. Kemp P. Battle opens the university faculty's spring lecture series Kemp P. Battle gave the first of a series of public lectures by the university faculty in Gerrard Hall, speaking on the Anti-Federalists' objections to the Constitution. Lectures by Gore, Hume, Wilson, Ball, Williams and Cobb were set for the rest of the spring term.Search the index · Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), February 18, 1897, p. 2
  77. The university holds a memorial service for David Gaston Worth Five days after Worth died, the university held a memorial service for him in Gerrard Hall, with a prayer by the Rev. N. H. D. Wilson and talks by Dr. John Manning, Kemp P. Battle and President Edwin A. Alderman, who said a tablet in Memorial Hall would bear his name. People: John Manning, Kemp Plummer Battle, Edwin Anderson AldermanSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. II (1912), p. 550
  78. Kemp P. Battle presides over the Dialectic Society fifty years after his own term At the society's request Kemp P. Battle took the chair of the Dialectic Society about October 28, 1898, fifty years after he had been its president as a senior, and spoke on the society as it was in his day. He told how it had moved from its old hall in South Building to Old East and how James Mebane, its first president in 1795, had sat beside him to preside jointly in 1848. People: James MebaneSearch the index · The News (Chapel Hill), November 4, 1898, p. 1
  79. The Kenans sell the Columbia Street corner lot that Christopher Barbee bought at the 1793 lot sale The Kenan family sold its lot at the corner of Columbia Street in Chapel Hill to a buyer the News names as Mr. H. H., the rest of the name being lost in the scan. Kemp P. Battle told the paper it was the last lot from the university's October 12, 1793 auction still held by the family of its first buyer, Christopher Barbee, whose line ran through William Barbee and the Hargraves to the Kenans. People: Christopher Barbee, Kemp Plummer BattleSearch the index · The News (Chapel Hill), November 4, 1898, p. 1
  80. Commencement marks twenty-five years since the university reopened The 1900 commencement was given over to the reopening of 1875, with nineteen members of the 1875-76 student body present and addresses by Kemp Battle, George T. Winston, W. J. Peele and President Alderman. People: Kemp Plummer Battle, George Tayloe Winston, W. J. Peele, James Cole TaylorDocumenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. II (1912), p. 576
  81. Kemp P. Battle settles Mary Ruffin Smith's estate at Hillsborough Kemp P. Battle, an executor of Mary Ruffin Smith, settled her estate in full at Hillsborough after collecting more than $18,000; the residuary legatees, the two Episcopal dioceses of North Carolina, received about $6,500 each. People: Mary Ruffin SmithSearch the index · Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), May 8, 1902, p. 2
  82. Kemp P. Battle and Thomas Hume retire on Carnegie pensions At the 1907 commencement President Venable announced the resignations of Kemp P. Battle, professor of history and former president, and Thomas Hume, professor of English, both placed on the Carnegie Foundation pension list. People: Francis Preston Venable, Thomas Hume, Kemp Plummer BattleSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. II (1912), p. 668
  83. Chapel Hill holds a memorial service for Cornelia Phillips Spencer Cornelia Phillips Spencer died in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on March 11, 1908. On May 17 the university held a service in her memory in Gerrard Hall, opening with the hymn she wrote for the 1875 reopening. People: Collier Cobb, Kemp Plummer BattleSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. II (1912), p. 674
  84. The university names a new McCorkle Place residence hall for Kemp Plummer Battle In 1912 the university named a new residence hall on McCorkle Place for Battle, its president from 1876 to 1891. It was one section of a three-part dormitory whose other sections honored J. Johnston Pettigrew and Zebulon B. Vance.Search the index · Carolina Story: Kemp P. Battle (1831-1919) and Battle Hall
  85. The vestry makes the new Chapel of the Cross parish house a memorial to Dr. and Mrs. Kemp P. Battle Parishioners petitioned that the parish house planned under rector Homer W. Starr honor the Battles, and the vestry agreed unanimously. Battle, who counted sixty-nine years in the parish, accepted, and the vestry also asked him that day to write a fuller parish history.Search the index · Archibald Henderson, The Church of the Atonement and the Chapel of the Cross at Chapel Hill (1938), scan p. 60
  86. The University Gymnasium Association votes to give Old Commons Hall to the university Stockholders of the association that had owned the old ballroom, gymnasium and dining hall since 1885 voted at a meeting in Dr. R. H. Lewis's office to deed the building to the university. It was then used for class basketball games and, in 1917, for military drill. People: Kemp Plummer Battle, Francis Preston Venable, Richard H. LewisSearch the index · The Tar Heel, October 7, 1915, p. 1 · Also: The Tar Heel, January 14, 1921, p. 1
  87. Edward Kidder Graham is inaugurated president in Memorial Hall A procession of about 1,400 marched to Memorial Hall, where Chief Justice Walter Clark gave Graham the oath and Governor Locke Craig presided. Graham's address cast the state university as the instrument of democracy. Three former presidents walked with him in the procession. People: Edwin Anderson Alderman, Francis Preston Venable, Kemp Plummer Battle, Locke Craig, Walter ClarkSearch the index · Howard E. Covington Jr., Fire and Stone: The Making of the University of North Carolina under Presidents Edward Kidder Graham and Harry Woodburn Chase (2018), p. 89
  88. Former president Kemp Plummer Battle dies at Senlac Kemp Plummer Battle, who helped reopen the university in 1875, served as its president from 1876 and wrote its history, died in his sleep at Senlac, his home at the edge of campus. He had turned 87 in December, and his death came two weeks after Stacy's.Search the index · Howard E. Covington Jr., Fire and Stone: The Making of the University of North Carolina under Presidents Edward Kidder Graham and Harry Woodburn Chase (2018), p. 185
  89. The Gimghouls build a stone seat at Piney Prospect in memory of Kemp P. Battle By May 1926 the Order of Gimghoul had built a massive semicircular stone seat at Piney Prospect, the hilltop where William R. Davie admired the view while seeking a site for the University, as a memorial to Kemp P. Battle, who liked to walk there. The Waldensian stonemasons who had just finished the Gimghouls' castle nearby walled it with rough stones from the hillside, and a bronze tablet was to be set above the seat. People: Kemp Plummer BattleSearch the index · The Chapel Hill Weekly, May 21, 1926, p. 1
  90. African, African American, and Diaspora Studies faculty ask the university to take Battle's name off Battle Hall Faculty of the Department of African, African American, and Diaspora Studies, whose offices are in Battle Hall, petitioned to remove Kemp Plummer Battle's name, citing his enslaving of people, his support for secession and his promotion of white supremacy. The university's Commission on History, Race, and a Way Forward endorsed the request.Search the index · UNC Commission on History, Race, and a Way Forward: Battle Hall (report with appendix)

People named in the same events

People named in the same dated entries as Kemp Plummer Battle, those sharing the most entries first. Each line links one of the shared entries in the chronology, where its source is cited. A shared entry shows these people in the same event, not how well they knew each other.

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Indexed works

Works about or by Kemp Plummer Battle. Each links to the institution that holds or provides it. Background reading appears below.

Filter these works by material, period, or place. Counts refer to works, not individual copies. A work may appear under more than one period or place.

Material

Histories 15Postcards 5Biography 4Photographs & portraits 4Maps 2other types 5

Period

19th century 12Civil War (1861–1865) 4Reconstruction (1865–1877) 320th century 8

Place

North Carolina (statewide) 17Orange County 15Chapel Hill 11Hillsborough 5Carrboro 1Chatham County (neighboring) 1

Memories of an Old-Time Tar Heel

Battle, Kemp Plummer · 1945

Kemp Plummer Battle's memoir, published by the University of North Carolina Press in 1945, 296 pages with plates and portraits. Battle, a lawyer, state treasurer and president of the university from 1876 to 1891, recalls North Carolina manners, customs and public life across the nineteenth century, with Chapel Hill and the university's reopening after Reconstruction at the center.

Included because: Listed as its creator.

Reviewed in Journal of American History (1946), The Journal of Southern History (1946).

Duke NC State NC Cardinal Durham Chapel Hill PL NCCU UNC CH Historical Society Library of Congress

All citizens interested in the defense of America are invited to a public meeting 8 p.m. Thursday, June 6, Gerrard Hall : speech by Kemp Battle

1940

A printed notice announcing a public meeting at Gerrard Hall on the University of North Carolina campus at 8 p.m. on Thursday, June 6, 1940, with a speech by Kemp Battle, held under the auspices of the Chapel Hill branch of the Committee to Defend America by Aid to the Allies. The meeting fell in the weeks after Dunkirk, as France was falling.

Included because: Its title names this person.

UNC

An address on the history of the buildings of the University of North Carolina

Battle, Kemp P. · 2005

Kemp P. Battle's University Day address of 1883, delivered as president of the University of North Carolina on the day marking the laying of the Old East cornerstone. Battle goes building by building through the Chapel Hill campus, telling how each was named and why it stands where it does. Fifteen pages. Electronic edition issued 2005 by the UNC University Library for Documenting the American South.

Included because: Listed as its creator.

NC Cardinal UNC Duke Library of Congress

Map of Orange County, N.C.

Tate, George W. · 1891 · George W. Tate

Facsimile, dated 1940, of George W. Tate's 1891 map of Orange County. It shows towns, roads, railroads such as the North Carolina Rail Road and the Chapel Hill line, residences, schools, churches, mills and mines, with portraits and pictures of buildings in the margins.

Included because: Their name appears in the record.

UNC DPLA Library of Congress Library of Congress Digital Collections

Report of Hon. Kemp P. Battle, President of the University of N.C. on the state of the University and the Normal School.

Battle, Kemp P. · 1878 · Daily and Weekly News Steam Book and Job Print

University president Kemp P. Battle's report to the trustees, dated January 15, 1878, on the condition of the University of North Carolina and on the 1877 session of its normal school, held in Chapel Hill to train teachers. Includes a report by secretary Dugger and a list of the normal students with their post offices. Printed in Raleigh by the Daily and Weekly News steam book and job print, 31 pages, online.

Included because: Its title names this person.

Duke NC State UNC

Thomason family papers, 1833-1967.

Thomason family · 1967

Five items of Thomason family papers spanning 1833 to 1967, photocopies and typed transcriptions whose originals had not been located when the copies were described. Part of the Southern Historical Collection at UNC, collection 3872-z. Subjects include Kemp P. Battle, Solomon Lea and Sarah Williams Kittrell Goree, and reach from social life in Chapel Hill and the nineteenth century university to yellow fever in Texas.

Included because: Their name appears in the record.

UNC
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Robert V. N. Brown papers, 1958-1999.

Brown, Robert V. N. · 1958

Robert V. N. Brown published the North Carolina Anvil, and his papers, about 6,800 items in ten linear feet from 1958 to 1999, belong to the Southern Historical Collection at UNC, collection 5312. Topics include newspaper and periodical publishing in the state, civil rights and the Chapel Hill Committee for Open Business, political activists in the town, and writers including Gail Godwin, Leon Rooke and Jonathan Williams.

Included because: Their name appears in the record.

UNC

View from Battle Seat, Chapel Hill, North Carolina

Wootten, Bayard Morgan, 1875-1959 · 1942 · Graycraft Card Co., Danville, Va

Bayard Wootten took the photograph for this 1942 Graycraft postcard of the view from Battle Seat in Chapel Hill, the bench honoring Kemp Plummer Battle. Aviation cadet T. C. Poole of Lewis Hall, then training at the U.S. Navy Pre-Flight School, mailed it to a friend in place of a letter.

Included because: Their name appears in the record.

DPLA

Kemp Battle Nye Papers, 1930s-2000s

Nye, Kemp Battle, 1916- · 1930

Kemp Battle Nye, born 1916, left approximately 1,800 items spanning the 1930s through the 2000s, nine linear feet in the Southern Historical Collection at UNC, collection 05801. The papers follow him through the University of North Carolina as a student, the United States Marine Corps, time among Americans in China, and a record store in Chapel Hill.

Included because: Its title names this person.

UNC

[Kemp Plummer Battle]

1919

Articles gathered in memory of Kemp Plummer Battle, 1831 to 1919, a president of the University of North Carolina, with the title supplied by a cataloger. Topics include college presidents at Chapel Hill, the biography of the university's presidents and North Carolina biography more broadly. Assembled in 1919, the year of Battle's death.

Included because: Its title names this person.

UNC

Kemp P. Battle Montgomery Ward Catalog Competition papers, 1915, 1962-1966

Battle, Kemp P. (Kemp Plummer), 1831-1919 · 1915

Papers concerning a Montgomery Ward catalog competition, dated 1915 and again 1962 to 1966, carrying the name of Kemp P. Battle, 1831 to 1919. Topics include writings by college students at Chapel Hill and the intellectual life of students at the university, and include the historian James Welch Patton. Part of the Southern Historical Collection at UNC, collection 1972.

Included because: Its title names this person.

UNC

Venable, Alderman, Graham, Battle at Graham's Inauguration

1915

Four University of North Carolina presidents, Francis P. Venable, Edwin A. Alderman, Edward Kidder Graham and Kemp Plummer Battle, pose together at Graham's inauguration in this real photo postcard of 1915. Mailed to R. H. Lewis in Raleigh, it bears a short greeting from K.P.B. and an April 1915 postmark.

Included because: Their name appears in the record.

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Books in OCPL’s Rebecca B. Wall Local History Collection whose titles, catalog subjects, or descriptions match this person. The Friends’ recommended starting points are labelled.

  • Foundational · NC 378 BAT History of the University of North Carolina Battle, Kemp P. · 1907

    Kemp Plummer Battle's two-volume history of the University of North Carolina, printed in Raleigh in 1907 and 1912. The first volume runs from the beginnings to the death of President Swain, 1789 to 1868; the second continues to 1912. Battle was himself a president of the university. Illustrated with portraits and facsimiles.

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Map tiles © OpenStreetMap contributors. Site locations from the N.C. State Historic Preservation Office survey, Open Orange, Orange County GIS, OpenStreetMap and a few other published sources named on each site’s page; town and community pins show approximate locations.

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Catalog searches use the Library of Congress name heading: Battle, Kemp P. (Kemp Plummer), 1831-1919. Historical-record searches use the person’s name and may include namesakes. Links open in a new tab.

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Picture: Kemp Plummer Battle, 1919. Public domain. library.digitalnc.org; via Wikimedia Commons

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