University of North Carolina Chapel Hill - Yackety Yack Yearbook (Chapel Hill, NC)

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When the Ci il War began nearly all of the students and one-third of the F ' aculty olunteered in defence of the South. Out of the ninety-five Freshmen of i857- ' 8 only ten remained to graduate; out of the eighty of the Freshmen of 1 858- ' 9 only one ; out of the sixty-eight Freshmen of 1 859- ' 60 only five. Still the Faculty under great privations kept the doors open until Kilpatrick ' s Cavalry in April 1865, rode into Chapel Hill. Although the endowment was lost, the doors were reopened in the summer of 1865 but the salaries of the professors not being paid, some of the ablest obtained work elsewhere and the number of students in i867- ' 8 w as only ninety-two. When the State government was reconstructed in July, 1868, the old Trustees were turned out of office, and the new set appointed under the constitution of that year vacated all the chairs. President Swain died the 27th of August, in consequence of being thrown from his buggy by a runaway horse. In the spring of 1869 the doors were again opened under a Faculty of which Rev. Dr. Solomon Pool was President. The experiment did not succeed, and in 1870 the exercises were suspended. In 1875 a new Board of Trustees, chosen by the General Assembly under an amendment to the constitution, elected a new Faculty, Rev. Dr. Charles Phillips being Chairman, and again invited students. The Secretary and Treasurer, Kemp P. Battle, succeeded in raising $20,000 mainly from the Alumni for the repair of the buildings, which was done under the superintendence of Mr. Paul C. Cameron. In 1S76 Dr. Battle was induced to accept the Presidency. In 1881 was procured from the General Assembly an annual appropriation of $5000, which added to $7500 a year interest on the Land Grant enabled the institution to expand to some extent. In 1885 was procured $15,000 a year in addition, but the succeeding General Assembly founded the Agricultural and Mechanical College, at Raleigh, and transferred to it the interest on the Land Grant, leaving the University $20,000 per annum, in addition to tuition and interest on endowment funds about $5000. In 1890, the History Chair was endowed with about $33,000 by Alumni and others, and Dr. Battle, being wearied with fifteen years of active executive duties resigned the Presidency and was unanimously elected Professor of History. Dr. George Tayloe Winston was the same year, 1891, with similar unanimity, made President. From 1877 to 1885 there were held by Uni ersity authorities Summer Normal Schools, attracting from three hundred and fifty to four hundred teachers and those preparing to teach. In 1885 Memorial Hall was dedicated ; in 1887 the Gymnasium

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laid with imposing ceremonies on the 1 2th of October, 1793, by Wm. Richardson Davie, then Grand Master of the Masonic Fraternity. Rev. Dr. Samuel E. McCorckle, who in addition lO parochial duties, had a flourishing school called Zion-Parnassus at Thyatira, six miles west of Salisbury, was the Orator of the Day. The doors were opened for students on the 15th of January, 1795. Rev. Dr. David Kerr, acted as President, with the title of Presiding Professor. The winter was of extreme severity. Not a student was present. In a few days, Hinton James, of Wilmington, whose work as civil engineer may still be seen on the Cape Fear, appeared, the first student. By the end of the term in July, the members had increased to about one hundred. Rev. Dr. Kerr remained only one year, became a lawyer, and by the appoint- ment of Jefferson was the Federal Judge of the territory of Mississippi. The Professor of Mathematics, Charles W. Harris, was a superior man, but he went off into law and died early of pulmonary consumption. By his advice Rev. Joseph Caldwell, then a tutor at Princeton, was chosen Professor of Mathematics and Presiding Professor. In 1804 he was, on the motion of Wm. Gaston, afterwards an eminent Judge of the Supreme Court, made President. For years the young University rested almost entirely on his shoulders. Dr. Caldwell in 18 12, in order to have time to write a book on Geometry gave up the Presidency and confined himself to the Professorship of Mathematics. Rev. Robert A. Chapman, D.D., was then President until 1816, when he resigned the office to Dr. Caldwell, who held it until his death in 1835. Dr. Caldwell was an active and enlightened man. In 181 1 he traveled through the State and raised $[ 2,000 for finishing the South Building. In 1824 the Trustees sent him to Europe for the purchase of scientific apparatus, the affairs of the University being then in a prosperous condition. During the latter part of his term the institution was in great straits, but in the year of his death the lands owned by the institution in West Tennessee came into market, and after paying its debts left an endowment of about $150,000. Ex-Governor David L. Swain, began his administration in 1835 under favorable auspices. During the flush times between 1850 and i860 the number of students rapidly increased, reaching 461 in 1858. The Old East and the Old West buildings were enlarged one-third in 1848, Smith Hall (the Library) was finished in 1852, and the New East and New West buildings in 1S59. 10

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was finished, and an addition made to Person Hall, the Chemical Building, and other laboratories fitted up. The Law School has been greatly enlarged and last year numbered sixty-six students. A Medical department has been added and a dissecting room erected. The Library room in Smith Hall has been fitted with alcoves and the libraries of the two Societies have been consolidated with that of the L niversitv. New Professorships have been added from time to time. In fine, the University ranks with the best. It has a flourishing Summer School for Teachers, one of Law, one of Geology, and one of Biology. It has a Scientific Society (the Mitchell), a Historical Society, a Shakespeare Club, a Philological Club, a C lee Club, and an Athletic Association.