Greenwood Cemetery-Historic Burial Site - New Bern - Civil War Discovery Trail Sites on Waymarking.com

Greenwood Cemetery-Historic Burial Site--Greenwood Cemetery, established in 1882 on the grounds of an earlier cemetery, is New Bern’s second-oldest public cemetery and the first city-owned cemetery for African Americans. Thirteen grave markers are dated between 1816 and 1859. At least five men who served in the U.S. Colored Troops during the Civil War are buried here, as well as prominent African American legislator of the postwar period, James Edward O’Hara.

O’Hara was born in New York City on February 26, 1844, the son of an Irish merchant and a West Indian mother. He sailed on vessels between the city and the West Indies as a youth, then settled in New Bern about 1862 and taught in freedman’s schools here and in Goldsboro after the war. He was elected to the state legislature from here in 1868, while studying law, and passed the bar examination in 1871. O’Hara represented North Carolina’s Second District in the U.S. Congress from 1883 to 1887, and served as a delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1884. While in Congress, he was a member of the House Committees for Pensions, Mines and Mining, and Expenditures on Public Buildings. He spoke against racial violence, introduced one of the first bills to make lynching a federal crime, and tried but failed to amend an interstate commerce bill to require equal accommodations for all travelers.

After O’Hara lost his bid for reelection in 1886, he practiced law in New Bern with his son Raphael and published a small newspaper, the Enfield Progress. He died on September 15, 1905, and was buried in Greenwood Cemetery.

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At least five men who served in the U.S. Colored Troops during the Civil War are buried here. They include Thomas Fisher, Co. C, 38th USCT, which fought in Virginia in 1864 and occupied Richmond in 1865; Payton White, Battery A, and Cornelius W. Jones, Battery B, 14th U.S. Colored Heavy Artillery, which was organized nearby; Jonas McDonald, Battery B, 2nd U.S. Colored Light Artillery, which served in Virginia and Texas from 1864 to 1866; and William A. Wood, 20th USCT, which served in Louisiana and Texas between 1864 and 1866.

Major funding for this project was provided by the North Carolina Department of Transportation through the Transportation Enhancement Program of the Federal Transportation Efficiency Act for the 21th Century.

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(upper left) James Edward O’Hara Courtesy North Carolina Office of Archives and History
(lower center) An unidentified U.S.C.T. enlisted man - Courtesy Library of Congress
(right) U.S. Colored Troops charging a Confederate fortification Courtesy Library of Congress

Type of site: Cemetery Address: 810 Cypress Street New Bern, NC USA 28560 Admission Charged: No Charge Website: [Web Link] Phone Number: Not listed Driving Directions: Not listed

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Date Logged Log User Rating   10/08/2021 Don.Morfe visited it