Mike Parker: NCDOT should respect hallowed ground
On Friday, March 3, I returned to my post at the Kinston-Lenoir County Information and Visitor Center after being out for two months following my surgery on January 5. The Visitor Center has a limited amount of traffic this time of year. After all, only a few people are heading to the beach this time of year.
But whether the center is busy or nearly deserted, frequent visitors stop in looking for information about the Civil War history of our area. Most locals know Kinston was the site of a battle in December 1862. Most also know that a second battle, the Battle of Wyse Fork or Southwest Creek, occurred from March 8-10, 1865. The center has maps of driving tours for those interested in visiting these battle sites. We also have some books about Wyse’s Fork.
Around 11 a.m. on March 3, a husband and wife entered the center. They were looking for information about the Battle of Wyse Fork. The gentleman, who lives in Illinois, told me he had two ancestors who fought in the war.
One enlisted in the Confederate Army since he was from southwestern Virginia. The other served in the Union Army in a unit raised in Illinois. His Illinois ancestor died during the Battle of Wyse Fork. He had been detached to the 15th Connecticut and died in the fighting before that regiment surrendered to the Confederate forces on March 8.
His descendant stopped at the center to see if he could get information about the battle. He wanted to walk the ground where his ancestor perished. He and his wife sat in the Visitor Center for nearly an hour, reading materials we have available about the battle. After a while, the couple left for the battlefield.
The Battle of Wyse Fork was the second-largest battle in North Carolina during the Civil War. Union Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman had entered North Carolina in early March 1865, heading for Goldsboro. Three divisions under Maj. Gen. Jacob D. Cox had left New Bern to join forces with Sherman.
CS Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, who had assumed command of all Confederate forces in North Carolina, began to assemble an army to strike Sherman. Johnston wanted to prevent a junction of the troops of Sherman and Cox, so Johnston instructed CS Gen. Braxton Bragg to slow the progress of Cox’s 13,000-man corps as it marched west from New Bern, a city that had been under Union control since March 1862.
Bragg, a North Carolina native, decided to make a stand several miles east of Kinston at Southwest Creek. Two seasoned major generals from North Carolina commanded his forces: Robert F. Hoke and Daniel Harvey Hill. By the time Bragg, Hoke, and Hill met on the night of March 7 to plan an attack the next day, the Confederates had entrenched on the creek’s west bank. Cox had positioned his troops across the waterway.
Confederate success at Southwest Creek was temporary. Early in the morning of March 8, Hoke crossed the creek undetected, flanked the Federals, and slammed into their rear. Hill crossed over about noon. Cox had suffered significant losses in both killed and wounded, and Hoke had captured 1,500 Union soldiers. By the end of the day, Confederate forces had secured one of the last southern field victories of the war. At the end of March 10, Confederate forces disengaged.
Sadly, the site of North Carolina’s second most significant battle is doomed to destruction if the current North Carolina Department of Transportation plan for the bypass as part of the Interstate goes into effect. By moving the interchange 1,1 miles east, NCDOT could spare the entire Wyse Fork Battlefield and still produce the goal of a shallow bypass.
I do not want to be sitting in the Visitor Center when another couple comes in and have to tell them: “Well, the battlefield used to be just a few miles down the road – where that interchange is now.”
Do we have such little respect for the history of those who fought, died, were wounded, or were captured in this battle?
Mike Parker is a columnist for the Neuse News. You can reach him at mparker16@gmail.com.
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