New Bern Visitor Center
and Battlefied Park
203 S Front St, New Bern NC
800-437-5767
Fort Macon State Park
PO Box 127, 2303 East Fort Macon Road
Atlantic Beach, NC, NC 28512
(252) 726-3775
E-mail: fort.macon@ncparks.gov
Kinston-Lenoir County Visitor’s and Information Center
(252) 522-0004
Hwy 70 and 258 South • 101 East New Bern Road
Hours: 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday,
10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday,
1 p.m.-5 p.m. Sunday
Admission: Free
Visit Kinston Website - historicalpreservationgroup.org
Wyse Fork Battlefield Mark (Hwy 70 East toward New Bern at the intersection of Hwy 70 East and British Road)
Also located here is the CSS Neusue and Caswell Museum, Replica of the CSS Neuse, Kinston Battlefield Memorial
Palmico Sound
New Bern - March 14, 1862
The Battle of New Bern (also known as the Battle of New Berne) was fought on 14 March 1862, as part of the Burnside Expedition, led by Brigadier General Ambrose E. Burnside and accompanied by armed vessels from the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron, were opposed by an undermanned and badly trained Confederate force of North Carolina soldiers and militia led by Brigadier General Lawrence O'B. Branch.
On March 11, Brig. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside's command embarked from Roanoke Island to rendezvous with Union gunboats at Hatteras Inlet for an expedition against New Berne. On March 13, the fleet sailed up the Neuse River and disembarked infantry on the river's south bank to approach the New Berne defenses. Although the defenders fought behind breastworks that had been set up before the battle, their line had a weak spot in its center that was exploited and after four hours of fighting attacking Federal soldiers drove the Confederates out of their fortifications. When the center of the line was penetrated, many of the militia broke, forcing a general retreat of the entire Confederate force. General Branch was unable to regain control of his troops until they had retreated to Kinston, more than 30 miles away. The Federals captured nine forts and 41 heavy guns and occupied a base which they would hold to the end of the war, in spite of several Confederate attempts to recover the town.New Bern came under Federal control, and remained so for the rest of the war.
Fort Macon - April 25, 1862
On April 14, 1861, local North Carolina militia forces from Beaufort arrived to seize the fort for the state of North Carolina and the Confederacy. North Carolina Confederate forces occupied the fort for a year, preparing it for battle and arming it with 54 heavy cannons.
Early in 1862, Union forces commanded by Maj. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside swept through eastern North Carolina, and part of Burnside's command under Brig. Gen. John G. Parke was sent to capture Fort Macon. Parke's men captured Morehead City and Beaufort without resistance, then landed on Bogue Banks during March and April to fight to gain Fort Macon. Col. Moses J. White and 400 North Carolina Confederates in the fort refused to surrender even though the fort was hopelessly surrounded. On April 25, 1862, Parke's Union forces bombarded the fort with heavy siege guns for 11 hours, aided by the fire of four Union gunboats in the ocean offshore and floating batteries in the sound to the east.
While the fort easily repulsed the Union gunboat attack, the Union land batteries, utilizing new rifled cannons, hit the fort 560 times. There was such extensive damage that Col. White was forced to surrender the following morning, April 26, with the fort's Confederate garrison being paroled as prisoners of war. This battle was the second time in history new rifled cannons were used against a fort, demonstrating the obsolescence of such fortifications as a way of defense. The Union held Fort Macon for the remainder of the war, while Beaufort Harbor served as an important coaling and repair station for its navy.
Wyse Fork - March 7, 1865
At the end of February 1865 the port city of Wilmington had fallen to Union troops under the command of Maj. Gen. John M. Schofield. Schofield was then to move his forces inland from the coast and join with Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman's forces at Goldsboro, North Carolina, where three Union armies would move against a Confederate army being gathered under Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston. Schofield, with the units from Alfred Terry's Expeditionary Corps, moved north from Wilmington, while Maj. Gen. Jacob D. Cox took his XXIII Corps division and sailed up the coast and landed at New Bern, North Carolina.
At New Bern, the Union forces were increased to three divisions and formed into a Provisional Corps with Cox in command. Moving towards Goldsboro, the Union forces repaired the railroad which was to function as a supply route for Sherman's Army Group. Johnston's army was too far away to move against Schofield's divided forces, but General Braxton Bragg's forces, falling back from Wilmington, were within striking distance. Bragg moved against Cox near Kinston.
On March 7, Federal advance units encountered Bragg's entrenched forces along Southwest Creek east of Kinston. Bragg's position not only blocked Cox's path but threatened a vital cross road and the New Bern-Goldsboro Railroad. Cox saw the importance of this position and moved forward the divisions of Brig. Gen. Innis N. Palmer to protect the railroad and Maj. Gen. Samuel P. Carter to protect the roads. Bragg's forces were also reinforced by veterans from the Army of Tennessee and the North Carolina Junior Reserves, all under the command of General D.H. Hill. Reinforced, Bragg went on the offensive and sent a division under North Carolina native Robert Hoke into the Union left flank. Hoke's attack hit a New England brigade in Carter's division, capturing an entire regiment. Hill joined the advance with the Junior Reserves but they panicked and refused to go any further. Hill left them behind and moved on with his veterans, hitting the Union brigade and defeating it. Disaster threatened the Union flank when Bragg stopped Hill's advance and sent him far to the north to counterattack a Union threat. When Hill arrived he found no Federals in sight. At this time Cox, who had been away from the front lines, returned and moved up his reserve division under Maj. Gen. Thomas H. Ruger to plug the gap between Palmer and Carter.
Skirmishing continued for the next few days until Hoke tried again to turn the Federal left flank on March 10. The Federal position had been strongly fortified by artillery and repulsed Hoke's attack within an hour. Hill then moved against the Union center but again Federal artillery proved decisive and the attackers were repulsed. The remaining elements from the Federal XXIII Corps, which had just arrived in New Bern from Tennessee, were moving on Kinston. Facing five Union divisions, Bragg withdrew. The CSS Neuse (ironclad) was scuttle during during this battle at Kinston to avoid capture.