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Topics Related to Civil War
On May 27, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln appointed Edward Stanly appointed military governor of North Carolina.
On May 26, 1864, a deadly torpedo explosion occurred at Batchelor’s Creek, about eight miles west of New Bern. For the Union forces stationed there, the losses were devastating. Initial reports claimed that 40 soldiers were killed in an accident while unloading the last four of 13 torpedoes from a train car. The torpedoes were intended to complete the blockade of the Neuse River.
On May 5, 1864, the CSS Albemarle crossed Batchelor’s Bay and fought seven Union warships. Upon entering the Albemarle Sound the Confederate ram, under command of Captain J. W. Cooke, and her escort vessels were attacked by four double-ended steamers and three smaller gunboats under Captain Melancton Smith. The Albemarle opened attack late in the day. Leading the first line of attack was the Union flagship, the Mattabesett. The Albemarle returned fire, destroying the launch and cutting away some of the standing and running rigging.
On May 5, 1864, Flag Officer William F. Lynch decided to take the war to the enemy using the recently completed Richmond-class ironclad CSS Raleigh.Built at J.L. Cassidey and Sons shipyard on Eagle’s Island in the Cape Fear River opposite Wilmington, the Raleigh measured 172 feet long. It was protected by two layers of 2-inch iron plate and armed with two 6.4-inch Brooke rifles and two 7-inch Brooke rifles.
On May 2, 1863, Confederate Lt. Gen. Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson was wounded by several volleys of gunfire from the 18th North Carolina Troops during the Battle of Chancellorsville in Virginia.
On April 26, 1865, the largest troop surrender of the Civil War took place on farm of James and Nancy Bennitt in what was then Orange County.Ten days earlier two worn adversaries, Union Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman and Confederate Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, along with their escorts, rode out to meet and negotiate the terms for the surrender. By chance, the Bennitt farm was located halfway between the Union forces positioned in Raleigh and the Confederate forces encamped in and around Greensboro.
On April 23, 1864, Robert Frederick Hoke, then only 27-years-old, became the youngest major general in the Confederate States Army. He was promoted days after leading a successful campaign to recapture Plymouth in Washington County.
On April 22, 1861, the U.S. Arsenal at Fayetteville surrendered to a force of state militia troops roughly a month before North Carolina seceded from the Union.At the time of the firing on Fort Sumter 10 days earlier, the Fayetteville Arsenal was guarded by a company of the Second U.S. Artillery. On April 22, the U.S. soldiers were confronted with a large force of nearly 1,000 state militia troops reinforced with artillery.