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The university closes and reopens

Reconstruction Republicans took control of the trustees in 1868, Solomon Pool’s presidency emptied the campus, the university closed in 1871, and in 1875 the legislature revived it and Cornelia Phillips Spencer rang the bell.

In briefReconstruction 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.

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South Building and the Old Well, about 1912
South Building and the Old Well, about 1912

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Events in this storyline, in date order. See these 78 dated events in the chronology →

  1. Trustees mortgage all university property to settle its debts Facing $103,000 of debt against worthless bank stock and Confederate securities, the trustees compromised with the Bank of North Carolina and other creditors at a quarter of the debt in gold, pledging all the university's property at Chapel Hill and its Buncombe County lands. The General Assembly also voted $7,000 for one year to pay the officers. People: Thomas Bragg, David L. Swain, Charles Manly, Bartholomew F. Moore Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. I (1907), p. 755
  2. 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 Worth Place: Chapel Hill · Also named: William H. BattleDocumenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. I (1907), p. 763
  3. 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 Battle Place: Chapel HillDocumenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. I (1907), p. 766
  4. A trustee committee including Albion W. Tourgee finds the university not bound to pay its bank debt On Edward Cantwell's motion the Reconstruction trustees named Cantwell, Justice E. G. Reade and Albion W. Tourgee to inquire into the university's debts. Their report held that the university was not legally or equitably bound to pay its debt to the bank, since it could not buy bank stock on credit, and that the Cameron and Swain debts should be scaled down. People: Albion W. Tourgee Place: Chapel Hill · Also named: Edward Cantwell, E. G. ReadeSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. II (1912), p. 13
  5. Charles Phillips is dismissed from the university faculty When the state's Reconstruction government reorganized the University of North Carolina in 1868, Phillips was dismissed from the faculty. He took a professorship at Davidson College in February 1869. People: Charles Phillips Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · NCpedia: Phillips, Charles
  6. Dialectic and Philanthropic societies hide their books and papers Believing the societies would not be run under their constitutions after the university changed hands, their last officers gave the Dialectic records to Alexander McIver and the Philanthropic records to William L. Saunders. The property lay safe until the societies revived in 1875. People: Alexander McIver, William L. Saunders Place: Chapel HillDocumenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. I (1907), p. 785
  7. Solomon Pool's new faculty move into the old professors' houses With Swain and the old faculty gone, the professors Pool brought in took over their Franklin Street homes: Fisk P. Brewer the Tom Taylor house, David Settle Patrick Swain's house, and James A. Martling the late James Phillips's house. People: Fisk P. (Fisk Parsons) Brewer, James Phillips, Solomon Pool Place: East Franklin Street, Chapel Hill · Also named: David Settle Patrick, James A. Martling, Tom Taylor · Also mentions: Tom Taylor house, Franklin StreetBernard Lee Bryant Jr., Occupants and Structures of Franklin Street, Chapel Hill (1998; Chapel Hill Historical Society, 1999), scan p. 115
  8. 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. Place: Chapel of the Cross, East Franklin Street, Chapel Hill · Also named: R. B. SuttonArchibald 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
  9. The university gives Bartholomew F. Moore an honorary LL.D. At the 1868 commencement, which Battle calls the last of the old regime, the university granted the degree of Doctor of Laws to ex-Governor Seymour and to Moore, a Raleigh lawyer and active trustee. People: Bartholomew F. Moore Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. I (1907), p. 769
  10. Professor Charles Phillips certifies aged Chapel Hill residents for Bureau rations On July 8 and 9, 1868, Charles Phillips, signing as professor in the University of North Carolina, wrote certificates asking the Bureau to give food to an aged, bedridden freedwoman of the village and to an elderly couple. He wrote that the want of patronage to the University had so reduced the means of the people who had long helped the couple that they had to turn to the Bureau, and Jones Watson, J.P., A. Mickle and H. B. Guthrie endorsed his statements. People: Charles Phillips, Jones Watson, Hugh B. Guthrie Place: Chapel Hill · Also named: A. MickleFreedmen's Bureau, North Carolina Field Offices, Hillsboro: Records Relating to Cases Tried & Destitute Freedmen, Part 2, transcription p. 189
  11. Reconstruction Republicans reshape UNC governance The 1868 constitution gave the choice of university trustees to the state Board of Education, controlled by Governor William W. Holden. In July 1868 the new trustees removed President David L. Swain and his faculty, and a Republican faculty under Solomon Pool reopened classes in March 1869 amid strong partisan opposition. People: William W. Holden, Solomon Pool, David L. Swain Place: Chapel HillDocumenting the American South, The First Century of the First State University: Civil War and Reconstruction
  12. Swain protests his removal to Governor Holden Learning that the new Reconstruction trustees had declared his 1867 resignation final, David L. Swain wrote Governor William W. Holden, as chairman of the board, that no charge had been made against him and that a resignation accepted by a board that no longer existed could not be revived. He asked for reconsideration, but died later that month. People: David L. Swain, William W. Holden, Charles Manly Place: Chapel HillDocumenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. I (1907), p. 777
Show all 78 dated events
  1. David L. Swain dies after a buggy accident Weeks after the Reconstruction board of trustees accepted his resignation, David L. Swain was thrown on August 11, 1868, from a buggy pulled by the horse General Sherman had given him. He seemed to be recovering but died on August 27 and was buried on August 29 in the garden of his Chapel Hill home; Charles Phillips preached his funeral sermon. People: David L. Swain, Charles Phillips Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · Hillsborough Recorder, September 2, 1868, p. 2 (death notice) · Also: UNC Wilson Special Collections Library: David L. Swain Papers #706
  2. Reconstruction trustees vote down admitting women The executive committee of the new Republican board of trustees recommended co-education, but the full board refused to admit women as students. Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. II (1912), p. 8
  3. Trustees vote to found a university branch for Black students near Raleigh On Victor C. Barringer's motion the Reconstruction trustees called for a school for Black students near Raleigh equal to the one at Chapel Hill, and on Albion W. Tourgee's motion made it a branch of the university, with Tod R. Caldwell moving that at least 100 acres be bought. Nothing came of it, nor of a later proposal to give Black students a third of the land-scrip money or of Tourgee's request for equal white and Black departments under one board. People: Tod Robinson Caldwell, Albion W. Tourgee Place: Chapel Hill · Also named: Victor C. BarringerDocumenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. II (1912), p. 8
  4. Cornelia Phillips Spencer describes the emptied campus and village In a letter to the Sentinel written under the Old Poplar, Spencer described the shut buildings and reported that nearly twenty of Chapel Hill's leading families were leaving and six places now sold liquor openly. She named the departing faculty, among them Judge William H. Battle, and called the town the Deserted Village of the South. People: Cornelia Phillips Spencer, William Horn Battle Place: Chapel HillDocumenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. II (1912), p. 29
  5. A Chapel Hill town meeting passes resolutions against Solomon Pool's administration Townspeople met and adopted resolutions against Pool's running of the university, an outburst of a year of pent-up anger. Shaken, Pool told the merchant Andrew Mickle that he had bought property and settled in the village and would find it hard to move. People: Solomon Pool, Andrew Mickle Place: Chapel HillHope Summerell Chamberlain, Old Days in Chapel Hill (1926), scan p. 197
  6. Alexander McIver joins the reorganized faculty as professor of mathematics McIver, a Moore County native who had graduated first in the class of 1853 and taught briefly as a tutor, came from Davidson College to teach mathematics on the Republican faculty that reopened the university under Solomon Pool. People: Alexander McIver, Solomon Pool Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · NCpedia: McIver, Alexander
  7. Great oaks are cut down in the faculty yards under the Pool administration After the Reconstruction faculty took over the old professors' houses, old oaks in their yards were felled for firewood, among them a large tree at the Swain house that Mrs. Swain said she would not have sold for $2,000. Timber cutting later spread to the woods behind the college. People: Solomon Pool Place: Faculty houses and campus woods, Chapel Hill · Also named: Eleanor White SwainHope Summerell Chamberlain, Old Days in Chapel Hill (1926), scan p. 182
  8. Solomon Pool accepts the presidency of the university Pool accepted the presidency of the University of North Carolina in 1869 at a salary of fifteen hundred dollars and was permitted to keep his federal appraiser post at the same time. Governor William W. Holden had taken charge of the board of trustees to secure a president with Republican affiliations. People: Solomon Pool, William W. Holden Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · NCpedia: Pool, Solomon
  9. Solomon Pool buys Nancy Hilliard's house, the Crystal Palace, at a sheriff's sale When the hotel keeper Nancy Hilliard went bankrupt, university president Solomon Pool bought her Franklin Street home, known as the Crystal Palace, at a sheriff's sale for $150. He let Col. Hugh B. Guthrie and his wife Jane, a daughter of Hudson Cave, move in, which Bryant reads as a way of forcing Hilliard out. People: Solomon Pool, Nancy Hilliard, Hugh B. Guthrie Place: Crystal Palace (Nancy Hilliard house), Franklin Street, Chapel Hill · Also named: Hudson Cave · Also mentions: Franklin StreetBernard Lee Bryant Jr., Occupants and Structures of Franklin Street, Chapel Hill (1998; Chapel Hill Historical Society, 1999), scan p. 125
  10. University treasurer puts the land-grant fund into railroad bonds later repudiated Treasurer Robert W. Lassiter invested the $125,000 land-scrip fund in North Carolina bonds, including $160,000 face value of special tax bonds issued for the Western North Carolina Railroad. The legislature repealed the acts behind those bonds on March 8, 1870, and the fund earned nothing until 1875. Place: Chapel Hill · Also named: Robert W. LassiterDocumenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. II (1912), p. 16
  11. Wilson Caldwell resigns from the university and founds a school for Black children In 1869 Wilson Caldwell, who had worked at the university as an enslaved servant and janitor, resigned and started a school for children of color in Chapel Hill. People: Wilson Swain Caldwell Place: Chapel HillChapelboro: Celebrating the Life of Wilson Caldwell
  12. Charles Phillips ordains two elders and leaves the emptied Presbyterian church in their care With the university closed and most of the faculty gone, Charles Phillips ordained Thomas Kirkland and a Mr. Thompson as elders just before he left for Davidson College and put the church in their hands. The Sunday school went on under Thompson, and the presbytery sent a visiting minister now and then. People: Charles Phillips Place: Chapel Hill Presbyterian Church, Chapel Hill · Also named: Thomas KirklandCornelia Phillips Spencer, The Presbyterian Church in Chapel Hill (1897), scan p. 15
  13. Cornelia Phillips Spencer publishes her Pen and Ink Sketches of the University Writing unsigned from Chapel Hill for Josiah Turner's Raleigh Sentinel, Spencer published a series on the history of the university under its old faculty, addressed to the alumni. Other Southern papers and the North Carolina Presbyterian reprinted the sketches, and they helped build the alumni opinion that later brought the university back. People: Cornelia Phillips Spencer, Josiah Turner Jr. Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · Hope Summerell Chamberlain, Old Days in Chapel Hill (1926), scan p. 180
  14. Federal court dismisses the state's suit to void the university's bank mortgage The Reconstruction trustees had the state sue in the United States Circuit Court, returnable at the June 1869 term, to cancel the university's mortgage to the Bank of North Carolina, but Judges Hugh L. Bond and George W. Brooks dismissed the bill for want of jurisdiction. On July 20, 1871 the trustees present advised against an appeal. Place: Chapel Hill · Also named: Hugh L. Bond, George W. BrooksDocumenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. II (1912), p. 15
  15. The Pool faculty holds its first commencement After a first term that began March 3, the university reported on June 10, 1869 three sophomores and seven freshmen and gave an A.B. to Abdel Kader Tenney. At the thinly attended commencement Governor William W. Holden argued for educating both races in one university, whites at Chapel Hill and Black students elsewhere. People: Solomon Pool, William W. Holden Place: Chapel Hill · Also named: Abdel Kader TenneyDocumenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. II (1912), p. 19
  16. The Pool faculty takes furniture from the society halls for their parlors Before the June 1869 commencement, Professor David S. Patrick broke open the Philanthropic Society's door to take its velvet rugs and a carpet, and furniture was carried out of the society halls to furnish the faculty's parlors. Villagers were furious, and Alexander McIver refused to use the societies' things. People: Alexander McIver Place: Philanthropic and Dialectic society halls, Chapel Hill · Also named: David S. PatrickHope Summerell Chamberlain, Old Days in Chapel Hill (1926), scan p. 189
  17. Bursar reports the plundering of university property Professor David Settle Patrick reported that when exercises were suspended in 1868 many in Chapel Hill believed the university's property belonged to the people. Books had been taken from the libraries and tools carried off, and only some had been returned. Place: Chapel Hill · Also named: David Settle PatrickDocumenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. II (1912), p. 23
  18. U.S. troops are quartered in a college building at Chapel Hill Federal troops were quartered in one of the university buildings at Chapel Hill and took in ten students found out at night, which the paper said would drive students away. Place: University, Chapel HillHillsborough Recorder, November 10, 1869, p. 2
  19. A Quaker teacher named Dickson is reported elected to the university's agricultural chair Word went round Chapel Hill that a new professor had been chosen for the university's agricultural college: Dickson, an English Quaker known as a teacher and agent for Black schools. Two months later Spencer learned that the appointment had never been put before the trustees. Place: Chapel HillHope Summerell Chamberlain, Old Days in Chapel Hill (1926), scan p. 202
  20. The remains of David L. Swain and his daughter Annie are taken from Chapel Hill to Raleigh for reburial An undertaker, K. P. Waitt, carried the coffins of the former governor and university president and his daughter Annie from their graves in Chapel Hill to Raleigh, where they were buried side by side in the old city cemetery with only family and a few friends present. People: David L. Swain Place: Swain family graves, Chapel Hill; reburied in the old city cemetery, Raleigh · Also named: Annie Swain, K. P. WaittDigitalNC: The Daily Journal (Wilmington), December 18, 1869, p. 3 · Also: DigitalNC newspaper, December 20, 1869, p. 3; DigitalNC newspaper, August 20, 1874, p. 2
  21. A squad of Holden's militia marches into Chapel Hill and camps behind the college During the Kirk-Holden war a squad of state militia under a Dr. Emery marched into Chapel Hill and camped behind the college, while some county men took to the woods and Frederick Strudwick and William L. Saunders hid to avoid arrest. Spencer wrote the next year that the militia had broken into the Philanthropic and Dialectic society libraries and taken books. People: Frederick N. Strudwick, William L. Saunders Place: Behind the college, Chapel Hill · Also named: George W. KirkHope Summerell Chamberlain, Old Days in Chapel Hill (1926), scan p. 211 · Also: Trial of William W. Holden
  22. Students of the Pool university board chiefly with Black families With about fifteen students from away and as many day scholars, the Pool university's boarders lived mostly with Black households, among them those of Wilson Caldwell, John Ashe and Sam Mahew. Spencer noted that all the boys were poor and held free scholarships. People: Wilson Swain Caldwell Place: Chapel Hill · Also named: John Ashe, Sam MahewHope Summerell Chamberlain, Old Days in Chapel Hill (1926), scan p. 214
  23. The trustees vote to suspend the university's exercises and stop faculty salaries from February 1 On the motion of the Rev. James Reid of Franklin County, the Reconstruction board of trustees voted on December 1, 1870, to suspend the university's exercises until further orders, and on James B. Mason's motion fixed February 1, 1871, as the day the faculty's salaries ended. The same day President Solomon Pool laid before the board a plan to lease the Chapel Hill property and bring the state's colleges under the university, which its committees dropped on February 1. People: Solomon Pool, James Augustus Graham, James B. Mason Place: Chapel Hill · Also named: James ReidInternet Archive: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. 2 (1912), full text
  24. McIver moves that the faculty step aside for the university's revival At a faculty meeting without President Pool, McIver offered a resolution that no member wished to stand in the way of reviving the university, since the faculty lacked public confidence. It passed with McIver and Patrick for and Brewer against. People: Alexander McIver, Solomon Pool Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · Internet Archive: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. 2 (1912), full text
  25. Solomon Pool asks alumni and friends to pay the university's debts In January 1871 Pool addressed alumni and friends of the university and pleaded for money to pay off its debts. The appeal came too late, and the trustees decided that the institution should close on 1 February 1871. People: Solomon Pool Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · NCpedia: Pool, Solomon
  26. The University of North Carolina closes Under President Solomon Pool and the Reconstruction board of trustees, the university shut down on February 1, 1871, after years of few students, little money and public opposition. It reopened on Monday, September 6, 1875. People: Solomon Pool Place: Chapel HillUNC Libraries, History on the Hill: Chronological List of Events
  27. Professor F. P. Brewer of the University is appointed U.S. consul at Piraeus F. P. Brewer of the University was appointed United States consul at Piraeus in Greece and was to leave for his post in a few days. People: Fisk P. (Fisk Parsons) Brewer Place: Chapel HillHillsborough Recorder, November 29, 1871, p. 2
  28. Cornelia Phillips Spencer raises a relief fund for Chapel Hill's poor With the university closed and few able families left, Spencer wrote to former residents and to Nancy Hilliard's old boarders for money, and kept an account book of the hundreds of dollars she gave out to needy neighbors as wood, food and cash. People: Cornelia Phillips Spencer, Nancy Hilliard Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · Hope Summerell Chamberlain, Old Days in Chapel Hill (1926), scan p. 235
  29. Alumni meet in Raleigh to plan the university's revival At the invitation of trustees led by Superintendent Alexander McIver, fifty-five alumni met in the state Senate chamber with B. F. Moore in the chair. Their committee proposed that the alumni association nominate a new board for the Board of Education to appoint, but most of the 1868 trustees did not resign and the plan lapsed. People: Alexander McIver, William A. Graham, William Horn Battle, Richmond Mumford Pearson, Bartholomew F. Moore Place: Chapel HillDocumenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. II (1912), p. 46
  30. State educational convention calls for reviving the university A convention called by the State Board of Education, with B. F. Moore presiding, resolved that the university should be revived as soon as practicable. It added that the revival was impossible except on a basis impartial between denominations and political parties, after Braxton Craven, Thomas H. Pritchard and A. W. Mangum argued over church representation. People: Robert Bingham, Adolphus Williamson Mangum, Thomas Henderson Pritchard, Bartholomew F. Moore Place: Chapel Hill · Also named: Braxton CravenDocumenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. II (1912), p. 45
  31. A constitutional amendment returns the election of university trustees to the General Assembly An amendment taking the election of the university's trustees from the governor-controlled Board of Education and giving it back to the General Assembly became part of the state constitution in August 1873, after a vote of the people and a two-thirds vote of a second legislature. Friends of the university had first carried it through the General Assembly in 1871 by the required three-fifths, the credit going to two alumni and brothers-in-law, the Democrat Montford McGehee and the Republican Richard C. Badger. Place: Raleigh · Also named: Montford McGehee, Richard C. BadgerInternet Archive: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. 2 (1912), full text
  32. 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 Battle Place: Chapel Hill · Also named: George H. Snow, Hugh L. Bond, Mildred C. CameronDocumenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. II (1912), p. 59
  33. James A. Graham serves on the university's board of trustees James A. Graham was one of only two members of the Reconstruction board elected again to the new board of trustees in 1874, and he served until 1883 and again from 1885 to 1889. In May 1875 he sat on the five-man committee whose plan for reopening the university the trustees adopted. People: James Augustus Graham Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · Internet Archive: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. 2 (1912), pp. 50, 71, 786, 788
  34. John Manning serves on the university's Board of Trustees John Manning became a trustee of the University of North Carolina in 1874 and held the post for two decades, through the university's 1875 reopening. People: John Manning Place: Chapel Hill, University of North CarolinaSearch the index · NCpedia: Manning, John, Jr.
  35. 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. Saunders Place: Citizens National Bank, RaleighInternet Archive: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. 2 (1912), full text
  36. Walter Steele and Paul Cameron inspect the derelict campus and Solomon Pool refuses to surrender the keys On April 3, 1874, trustees Walter L. Steele and Paul C. Cameron came to Chapel Hill for the new board. Solomon Pool declined their written request for the keys and possession of the buildings, since the governor had not recognized the board, but let them inspect as visitors. Their report to the trustees on April 9 described broken doors and fallen plaster, the lower passage of Old West fouled by cattle and horses, rotted gates and axe-scarred oaks, 7,490 books in the Dialectic library and 6,901 in the Philanthropic, and recommended an immediate suit against Pool for possession. People: Paul C. Cameron, Solomon Pool, William L. Saunders, James B. Mason Place: Chapel Hill · Also named: Walter L. SteeleInternet Archive: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. 2 (1912), full text
  37. 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 Battle Place: Raleigh (for the university at Chapel Hill) · Also named: W. L. Steele, J. J. DavisHillsborough Recorder, April 15, 1874, p. 3
  38. 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 Battle Place: Orange County Superior Court, HillsboroughInternet Archive: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. 2 (1912), full text
  39. Federal court rules the campus cannot be sold for the bank debt In the suit of Charles Dewey, assignee in bankruptcy of the Bank of North Carolina, to sell the university's property under its mortgage, Chief Justice Morrison R. Waite with Judges Hugh L. Bond and George W. Brooks held the debt valid. They ruled that neither the trustees nor a creditor could sell the property that made up the life of the institution, as distinct from its endowment. Place: Chapel Hill · Also named: Charles Dewey, Morrison R. Waite, Hugh L. Bond, George W. BrooksDocumenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. II (1912), p. 58
  40. A man named Perkins is jailed for taking the Philanthropic Society's books and Caldwell portrait A man named Perkins, lately discharged from the penitentiary, was brought from Chapel Hill at the instance of citizens there and jailed at Hillsborough, charged with stealing books, carpeting and the portrait of Dr. Joseph Caldwell from the Philanthropic Society's rooms at the closed university. The portrait was badly damaged. People: Joseph Caldwell Place: Chapel Hill; county jail, Hillsborough · Also named: PerkinsHillsborough Recorder, September 2, 1874, p. 3
  41. Adolphus W. Mangum joins the faculty of the reopened university When the university reopened in 1875 Mangum became professor of mental and moral science, history and English language and literature. He taught until he died in Chapel Hill in May 1890 and was buried in the old Chapel Hill Cemetery. People: Adolphus Williamson Mangum Place: Chapel Hill · Also mentions: Chapel Hill CemeterySearch the index · NCpedia: Mangum, Adolphus Williamson
  42. Charles Phillips returns to Chapel Hill and chairs the faculty When the University of North Carolina reopened in 1875, Phillips was invited back as professor of mathematics and served as chairman of the faculty during his first year. Illness forced his retirement in 1879, when he became the first professor emeritus named by the trustees. People: Charles Phillips, Cornelia Phillips Spencer Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · NCpedia: Phillips, Charles
  43. George Tayloe Winston joins the faculty of the reopened university Winston, a Cornell graduate who had also studied at UNC, came to Chapel Hill in 1875 as professor of Latin and German when the university reopened. People: George Tayloe Winston Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · Carolina Story (museum.unc.edu): George Tayloe Winston (1852-1932)
  44. John DeBerniere Hooper returns as professor of Greek and French when the university reopens When the university reopened in 1875 Hooper was appointed professor of Greek and French. He resigned in October 1885 because of illness and died at his Chapel Hill home in January 1886. People: John DeBerniere Hooper Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · NCpedia: Hooper, John De Berniere
  45. John Kimberly returns as professor of agriculture at the reopened university When the university reorganized and reopened in 1875, John Kimberly was elected professor of agriculture. He resigned the next year to return to his farm in Buncombe County. People: John Kimberly Place: Chapel Hill, University of North CarolinaSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. 1
  46. John W. Carr gives $100 toward reopening the university John W. Carr of Chapel Hill paid $100 to the subscription of nearly $20,000 raised to revive the university in 1875, alongside $500 from his son Julian S. Carr of Durham. People: John Wesley Carr, Julian S. Carr Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. II (1912), p. 795
  47. Ralph Henry Graves joins the faculty of the reopened university Ralph Henry Graves returned to Chapel Hill in 1875 as professor of engineering at the newly reopened University of North Carolina. He later taught mathematics and held his professorship until his death in 1889. People: Ralph Henry Graves (1851-1889) Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · NCpedia: Graves, Ernest
  48. Wilson Caldwell returns to the reopened university and later heads its labor force When the university reopened in 1875 Wilson Caldwell went back to work there. He became curator of South Building and head of the campus labor corps, and held the post until his death in 1898. People: Wilson Swain Caldwell Place: Chapel HillTown of Chapel Hill: Wilson Swain Caldwell, Old Chapel Hill Cemetery Tour
  49. Women's groups give scientific apparatus to the reopened university At the board's request Cornelia Phillips Spencer gathered gifts of instruments from women around the state, including Plateau's apparatus from the pupils of the Nash and Kollock school in Hillsborough. The women of Hillsborough gave a Holtz electrical machine in memory of William A. Graham, which Paul C. Cameron presented at the 1877 commencement. People: Cornelia Phillips Spencer, Paul C. Cameron, William A. Graham Place: Chapel Hill · Also mentions: Nash and Kollock schoolSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. II (1912), p. 76
  50. Cornelia Phillips Spencer learns on her fiftieth birthday that the university will reopen A telegram from Raleigh on March 20, 1875, reported that the legislature had passed a bill letting the closed University of North Carolina reorganize with some state support. Spencer, whose letters to state leaders had pressed for the reopening, and a few friends entered South Building and tolled the college bell to celebrate. People: Cornelia Phillips Spencer Place: South Building, UNC campus, Chapel HillSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Cornelia Phillips Spencer, 20 Mar. 1825-11 Mar. 1908 (Dictionary of North Carolina Biography)
  51. A storm unroofs the university's New East building A late-March storm tore the tin roof from the center of New East, over the library and the Philanthropic Society's hall, and felled one of the campus oaks. Andrew Mickle and villagers nailed down a temporary covering, and Paul C. Cameron, chairman of the repairs committee, came to Chapel Hill and arranged to reroof all the university buildings, giving the woodwork to carpenter Foster Utley. People: Paul C. Cameron, Andrew Mickle Place: New East, UNC campus, Chapel Hill · Also named: Foster UtleyHillsborough Recorder, March 31, 1875, p. 3
  52. University trustees ask the legislature to pay the land-scrip interest so the university can reopen Through a committee, the university's trustees memorialized the General Assembly to recognize the federal land-scrip fund, lost in worthless special tax bonds, as a valid state debt and to pay its interest of about $7,500 a year to the university, which would let classes resume on a small scale in July. Place: General Assembly, RaleighHillsborough Recorder, March 3, 1875, p. 2
  53. Solomon Pool sues the university trustees for his salary Solomon Pool, president of the university during its collapse, brought suit against the trustees for his salary since the institution broke down. The Raleigh News, quoted by the Recorder, predicted he would lose. People: Solomon Pool Place: University of North Carolina, Chapel HillHillsborough Recorder, April 21, 1875, p. 2
  54. 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 Battle Place: Chapel HillDocumenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. II (1912), p. 71
  55. 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 Patterson Place: Chapel Hill · Also named: Charles W. BroadfootInternet Archive: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. 2 (1912), full text
  56. Andrew Mickle becomes bursar of the reopened university Electing the reopened university's professors, the trustees broke with the old practice of making a professor bursar and chose Andrew Mickle, the Chapel Hill merchant who had acted as their agent, at $400 a year. He held the post until he left to live with his children in Texas in the early 1880s. People: Andrew Mickle Place: Chapel HillDocumenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. II (1912), p. 79
  57. Chapel Hill rings its college and church bells for the new university faculty When news reached Chapel Hill that the trustees had elected a faculty for the reopened university, the old college bell and the bells of the village's four churches rang together, as they had last done, muffled, for the death of David L. Swain. Place: Chapel Hill · Also named: David L. SwainHillsborough Recorder, June 23, 1875, p. 2
  58. 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. Moore Place: Chapel Hill · Also named: David M. Carter, Seaton GalesDocumenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. II (1912), p. 70
  59. 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 Phillips Place: Chapel HillUNC Libraries, History on the Hill: Chronological List of Events
  60. The Dialectic and Philanthropic societies meet again On the evening of the reopening celebration the two literary societies were revived, the Dialectic called together by its last secretary, Thomas M. Argo, with Judge William H. Battle as temporary president. William L. Saunders, who had kept the Philanthropic Society's books since its last meeting in 1868, called that society together. People: William Horn Battle, William L. Saunders Place: Chapel Hill · Also named: Thomas M. ArgoDocumenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. II (1912), p. 98 · Also: The Daily Tar Heel, September 15, 1975, p. 3
  61. Francis D. Winston is the first student to arrive for the reopening Battle names Francis Donnell Winston of Bertie County the first student on the Hill in 1875, arriving a day ahead of other entrants with his brother Robert and Charles Bond. Bond was the only student to enter the agricultural department on opening day, and Battle calls him the first student of the first college of agriculture in the state. People: Francis D. Winston, Robert W. Winston Place: Chapel Hill · Also named: Charles BondDocumenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. II (1912), p. 94
  62. Alfred M. Waddell appeals for the university's full restoration at the first commencement after reopening At the first commencement after the university reopened in 1875, Alfred M. Waddell gave an address urging that it be restored to its old prosperity and standing. He recalled the appeal in his centennial oration nineteen years later. People: Alfred Moore Waddell Place: Chapel HillAlfred M. Waddell, The Ante-Bellum University (1895), scan p. 22
  63. 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 Battle Place: Chapel HillLefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 152 · Also: Hillsborough Recorder, June 21, 1876, p. 3; The Daily Tar Heel, September 29, 1983, p. 7
  64. 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. People: Kemp Plummer Battle Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · UNC University Archives, For the Record: Women Students in the Summer Normal School at UNC · Also: The Daily Tar Heel, February 11, 1976, p. 1
  65. 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: William Horn Battle, Kemp Plummer Battle Place: Chapel HillSearch 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
  66. 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 Taylor Place: Memorial HallDocumenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. II (1912), p. 576

Places in this history

Buildings, schools, churches and other sites named in the dated events on this page, the most often named first. The map shows the 8 with a known location.

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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Indexed works

Related works found in catalogs and archives across North Carolina. Each links to the institution that holds or provides it.

The James A. Graham papers, 1861-1884

Graham, James Augustus, 1841-1908 · 1928 · The University of North Carolina press

Civil War letters of James Augustus Graham, 1841 to 1908, printed in 1928 by the University of North Carolina Press, together with the descriptive book of the Orange Guards, Company G of the 27th North Carolina Infantry. The descriptive book registers the men of the company. Part of the library's Wall Local History Collection.

Included because: The record names this subject alongside a heading for the county or its towns.

✓ Held at OCPL · NC BIO GRAHAM GRA UNC Library of Congress

Adolphus Williamson Mangum : memorial address delivered in the chapel of the university, Sunday, May 31st, 1891

Daniels, Josephus, 1862-1948 · 1891 · Dialectic and Philanthropic Societies

Josephus Daniels's memorial address for Adolphus Williamson Mangum, delivered in the university chapel at Chapel Hill on Sunday, May 31, 1891 and printed by the Dialectic and Philanthropic Societies. Mangum, who died in 1890, was a Methodist minister on the University of North Carolina faculty. The text was detached from the North Carolina University Magazine for that year.

Included because: The record names this subject alongside a heading for the county or its towns.

UNC

John DeBerniere Hooper : a memorial

Spencer, Cornelia Phillips, 1825-1908 · 1886 · Dialectic and Philanthropic Societies

A memorial of John DeBerniere Hooper, a member of the University of North Carolina faculty, who died in 1886. Cornelia Phillips Spencer wrote it, and the Dialectic and Philanthropic Societies printed it at Chapel Hill after it appeared in the North Carolina University magazine for March 1886. It is faculty biography and North Carolina biography.

Included because: The record names this subject alongside a heading for the county or its towns.

UNC

Papers,

Craig, Locke · 1880

Papers of Locke Craig, Asheville lawyer who served in the North Carolina legislature from 1898 to 1903 and as governor from 1913 to 1917. The 126 items, beginning in 1880, include personal letters, political and religious speeches, an address on Freemasonry, and a chemistry notebook he kept as a University of North Carolina student. Kemp P. Battle, Henry G. Connor and Woodrow Wilson are among the names that appear.

Included because: The record names this subject alongside a heading for the county or its towns.

Duke

Algernon Barbee address, 1871.

Barbee, Algernon, 1840-1918 · 1871

An address given by Algernon Barbee (1840-1918) in 1871, concerning Methodists and religious life and customs in Chapel Hill. Southern Historical Collection at UNC, collection 44-z.

Included because: Its title names this subject.

UNC

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Churches & Faith →Schools & Education →Orange County during the Civil War, 1861–1865 →Families, Land & Genealogy →Law, Courts & Justice →

Picture: South Building and the Old Well, about 1912. Public domain. Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. 2 (1912); via the Internet Archive

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