Location: SR 1113 (Old Cherry Point Road) and SR 1129 (Green Springs Road) at James City
County: Craven
Original Date Cast: 1948
Fort Point in Craven County was the site of a small fort built in 1775-1776 by Whig forces guarding the river approaches to New Bern. The facility was named Fort Caswell in honor of Governor Richard Caswell but never saw action during the war. The Americans dismantled and removed the guns of the earthwork fort prior to the British capture of the town in August 1781.
During the Civil War, local Confederate officials rebuilt and expanded the fort, renaming it Fort Lane. The small defensive position boasted between three and eight guns at different times and served as part of New Bern’s defensive network along with Fort Thompson and Fort Ellis. Several North Carolina Confederate regiments served brief tenures at the fort. John A. Graham, a young officer in the 27th North Carolina wrote a poignant letter to his father William A. Graham on March 7, 1862, in which he noted, “Our men are living in tents, but seem to like this place better than Fort Macon.” Graham’s unit had originally been posted at Fort Macon near Morehead City.
When New Bern fell to Union forces a week after Graham’s letter, Fort Lane was destroyed and its guns dismantled. Union forces never reused the defensive position, instead focusing their efforts on the construction of Fort Totten.
References:
Richard A. Sauers, The Battle of New Bern and Related Sites in Craven County, North Carolina, 1861-1865 (1994)
Richard W. Iobst, “The Battle of New Bern” (Confederate Centennial Commission, 1962)
Alan D. Watson, A History of New Bern and Craven County (1987)
John G. Barrett, The Civil War in North Carolina (1963)
William R. Trotter, The Civil War in North Carolina: The Coast: Ironclads and Columbiads (1989)