Marker Erected by: North Carolina Civil War Trails
County of Marker: Duplin County
Marker Text:
North Carolina Civil War Trails
CONFEDERATE STATES ARMORY
Production Destroyed
Confederate Lifeline
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
[Photo Caption: The blockade runner Robert E. Lee, photographed about 1864, penetrated the coastal blockade more than 20 times before being captured trying to reach Wilmington, N.C., in Nov. 1863. Converted to USS Fort Donelson, it joined the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron and helped capture Fort Fisher. - Library of Congress]
[Photo Caption: North Carolina supplied much of the clothing, shoes, hats, and blankets used by the Confederate soldiers such as these captured at Gettysburg, Pa. - Library of Congress]