Administrative History of Creating Unit
Military training has been a part of the University of Illinois curriculum since 1868. In that year, the Illinois Industrial University was officially opened in compliance with a requirement of the Morrill Land Grant of 1862.1 By laws of Congress and the state, the University was required to teach Military Tactics to its students. All able-bodied male students of the first and second years were enrolled in the companies of the University Battalion, and received instruction from one to three hours each week.2 World War I severely affected the University ROTC program. By the end of the school year 1916-17 all the officers were ordered away. Only one officer, Major Edward W. McCaskey, U.S.A. retired, was assigned for 1917-18. The Student Training Corps, coming in the fall of 1918, was a further serious set back. This program converted the University into a military school for all practical purposes. It lasted for only four months and, in effect, replaced the ROTC. It left the ROTC in a position of much reduced effectiveness for this period.3 In 1961, the name was listed as Department of Military Science.4
1. A Brief History of the University of Illinois ROTC, 1918, p. 1.
2. Board of Trustees Transactions, 10th Report, 1881, p. 39.
3. A Brief History of the University of Illinois ROTC, 1918, p. 2.
4. University of Illinois Undergraduate Study Catalog, 1961, p. 93.
Submit request (Aeon)
Email us about these records
Print this information