After the war, the Corporation presented a bill for 1,309 pounds, 3 shillings, and 2 pence to the United States government for the lengthy use of the campus and for significant damages done to the College Edifice by the occupying troops. After no action was taken, the bill was resubmitted ten years later and finally paid in 1800, although without the requested interest, which would have more than doubled the amount due.

Having been safely stored away from the garrisoned campus, the volumes comprising the college library were inventoried and returned at the end of the war. In James Manning’s hand, the ledger lists 607 volumes.

During the six years that the College was closed, the campus was requisitioned as a barracks for American troops and later used as a military hospital for the French soldiers of General de Rochambeau. Many students left to join the war effort. But, finally, the war was over and it was time to resume studies.

At the first meeting of the Corporation after the war, it was noted that the college’s first seal, which featured portraits of the English monarchs, needed to be replaced. The new design, completed in 1784, featured a Scientiae S[acrum] Patet Omnibus (“Sacred temple to knowledge open to all”).

The first university bell rang from inside the new College Edifice in 1788. Within just four years, it would be replaced by a larger bell of “about 300 pounds,” hung inside the newly completed cupola. A student was given free tuition and room in exchange for ringing the bell as needed.