Battle (Family : Battle, William Horn, 1802-1879)

William Horn Battle (1802-1879) lived near Louisburg, N.C., until late 1839, when he moved to Raleigh. In 1843, he moved to Chapel Hill and remained there until the closing of the University of North Carolina in 1868, when he went to Raleigh to live with his sons. Battle served as a Superior Court judge in 1840 and as a Supreme Court judge, 1852-1865. He was a Whig in politics and represented Franklin County in the House of Commons, 1833-1834. Battle was a professor of law at the University of North Carolina. The connection of the Law School with the University was nominal at the time, but Battle, as a prominent trustee, father of several University students, and close friend of University President David L. Swain, was quite active in University affairs.

Battle married Lucy Martin Plummer, daughter of a prominent family in Warren County, N.C. Their son, Kemp Plummer Battle, married his cousin, Martha Ann Battle (Pattie). Kemp Plummer Battle studied at the University of North Carolina, where he remained as a tutor for several years after graduation, studying law at the same time. When he secured his law license, he began to practice in Raleigh and soon thereafter married Pattie. They lived in Raleigh for 20 years. During this time, Kemp Plummer Battle practiced law and participated in public affairs as a member of the Convention of 1861; state treasurer, 1866-1868; and as an active member of the Whig Party before the Civil War, and, after the war, as a moderate conservative, and later Democrat. He was president of the Chatham Railroad and had interests in real estate ventures through the Southern Land Agency and Battle, Heck, and Company. Kemp Plummer Battle was active in the re-opening of the University of North Carolina. In 1876, he was elected president of the University and, in 1877, moved to Chapel Hill to begin work. He remained president until 1891, when he resigned to become professor of history, a post he held until his retirement in 1907.

William James Battle, youngest son of Kemp Plummer Battle, was born in Raleigh and lived in Chapel Hill after his father became president of the University of North Carolina. He was graduated from the University in 1888 and received his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Harvard University. In 1889-1890, he was an instructor of Latin at the University of North Carolina. In 1893, he taught briefly at the University of Chicago, then moved to the University of Texas, where he served until 1917 as associate professor and professor of Greek, dean of the College of Arts (and later of the faculty) and as acting president. In 1917, William James Battle joined the faculty of the University of Cincinnati, where he stayed until 1920 when he returned to Texas as professor of classical languages. He lived in Austin until his death in 1955. He was co-author of The Battle Book with Herbert B. Battle and Lois Yelverton.

Laura Caroline Battle Phillips (1824-1919) was the youngest child of Joel Battle and his wife Mary Pretty Polly Johnston Battle. Laura Battle was married to Professor Charles Phillips on 8 December 1847 at the Battle home in Chapel Hill, N.C. Their children included sons William and Alexander and daughters Mary and Lucy. Charles Phillips (1822-1889) was the son of James and Julia Vermeule Phillips of Chapel Hill, N.C. He was a graduate of the University of North Carolina, 1841; a tutor, 1844-1854; professor of mathematics, 1854-1868 and 1875-1879; and professor emeritus, 1879-1889. He taught at Davidson College, 1868-1874. Charles Phillips's sisiter, Cornelia Phillips (1825-1908), married James Munroe Spencer in 1855 and went with him to Alabama. At his death in 1861, she and her daughter Julia James June Spencer came back to Chapel Hill. During her last years, she lived in Cambridge, Mass., with her daughter and son-in-law, June and James Lee Love, and their children, Cornelia and James Spencer Love.

Below is a genealogical chart including most Battle family members who figure prominently in the papers. The children of James Smith Battle and Sallie Harriet Westray Battle and of Kemp Plummer and Susan Martin Plummer are not listed in chronological order by date of birth. Some Plummer family information is also included.

Plummer Family

For further information, see The Battle Book and Kemp Plummer Battle's Memories of an Old-Time Tar Heel .

From the guide to the Battle Family Papers, 1765-1955, (Southern Historical Collection)