Confederate Factory - Kenansville, NC - American Civil War Monuments and Memorials on Waymarking.com

County of mark: Duplin County
Location of mark: S. Main St. (NC 11/24) & Mallard Rd., Kenansville
Marker erected by: Archives, preservation and highway departments
Date marker erected: 1949

Marker text:

A Civil War Discovery Trails marker stands next to the memorial, it's text is:
"Throughout the Civil War, North Carolina furnished much of the material that the Confederate armies needed to sustain field operations. Here in Kenansville, the Confederate State Armory produced military supplies ranging form swords to knapsacks. Blockade runners smuggled contraband goods that were then furnished to Virginia (heart of the war's Eastern Theatre) via the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad and the Petersburg Railroad. Disrupting the rail line became a major Union objective.

On July 4, 1863, U.S. cavalry struck the Confederate States Armory here. Lt. Col. George W. Lewis, leading 640 men of the 3rd New York Cavalry to destroy Wilmington and Weldon Railroad track, sent a battalion to Kenansville under Maj. Ferris Jacobs, Jr. According to Lewis' after-action report, Jacobs arrived after dark, "surprised and completely dispersed a company of cavalry, commanded by Captain [William K.] Lane [Co. F, 7th N.C. Cavalry], taking all their transportation, nearly all their horses and equipment and arms, and 4 or 5 prisoners." Lewis and the rest of the regiment then joined Jacobs, and together they burned the armory, "with a large quantity of sabers, saber bayonets, knives, ....boiler, all tools, saddles, and all the stock." The New Yorkers bivouacked here, then continued their raid the next day. Despite the destruction, owner Louis Froelich, "sword maker for the Confederacy," rebuilt the armory and soon was back in operation.

   "An armory was destroyed which contained some 2,500 sabers and large quantities
   of saber bayonets, bowie knives, and other small-arms, a steam-engine and implements
   for manufacturing arms. A store-house .... a manufactory of knapsacks, and some
   commissary store-houses were burned."
    Gen John G.. Foster, July 7, 1863

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