Battle of New Bern, Smoke and Flames
Posted by: 
showbizkid
N 35° 06.262 W 077° 02.099
18S E 314527 N 3886511
This Civil War Trails site is at Union Park overlooking the Neuse River. This tranquil setting looked quite different in March 1862, when New Bern was invaded by Union troops and sailors.
Waymark Code: WMHYQ
Location: North Carolina, United States
Date Posted: 07/22/2006
Views: 57
On March 13, 1862, Union General Ambrose Burnside prepared to capture New Bern after seizing Roanoke Island in February. Confederate General Lawrence Branch defended the city in a line of fortifications located several miles down the Neuse River, But by late in the morning of March, Burnside's overwhelming force breached the line. The Confederates retreated to Kinston. Eleven thousand Federal troops were about to descend on New Bern with a large fleet of United States Navy gunboats sailing up the river in support.
On the nearby banks of both the Trent and Neuse Rivers, the retreating Confederates set fires to warehouse filled with cotton bales, military supplies and thousand of barrels of pine tar and turpentine. The Confederates also fired the railroad bridge across the Trent River to delay the approaching Union army. The serene beauty of today's Union Point Park stands in sharp contrast to the scene in 1862. Huge clouds of billowing black smoke and flames poured out of the wooden warehouses. At flank speed, the Federal gunboats charged upriver with their coal-fired steam engines spewing black smoke and their heavy guns blazing as they bombarded New Bern.
During the next 24 hours, stray soldiers, sailors, and a few residents looted and vandalized New Bern until Burnside's troops restored order. Soon thereafter, New Bern was transformed into a fortified city and remained under Union control for the duration of the war.
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