2019-08 KNAPSACK (Revised)
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The Knapsack Raleigh Civil War Round Table The same rain falls on both friend and foe. August 12, 2019 Volume 19 Our 222nd Meeting Number 8 http://www.raleighcwrt.org August 12 Event Features Philip Gerard, M.F.A., Speaking on His Book The Last Battleground—The Civil War Comes to North Carolina Our upcoming meeting will be on Monday, August 12, F. Green III to honor Gerard's work in establishing and 2019 at 7:00 pm in Daniels Auditorium at the NC Muse- directing the MFA program, is awarded annually to an um of History in Raleigh and will feature Philip Gerard, MFA student on the basis of literary merit. M.F.A. in Creative Writing, speaking on his book The Last Battleground—The Civil War Comes to North Philip was also awarded the T. Harry Gatton Award in Carolina. This will be preceded at 6:30 pm by a social 2015. This award, presented annually since 2008 by the "half-hour". Raleigh Civil War Round Table, recognizes individuals who have made significant contributions to the under- Philip Gerard was born in 1955 and grew up in Newark, standing of and appreciation for the American Civil War. Delaware. He attended St. Andrew's School in Mid- dletown, Delaware. At the Univer- He is the author of two historical novels set in North Car- sity of Delaware, he studied with olina, Hatteras Light and Cape Fear Rising as well as a fiction writer Thomas Molyneux, recent work featuring Paul Revere and several non- poet Gibbons Ruark, and nonfic- fiction works. His most recent work is The Last Battle- tion writer and editor Kevin Ker- ground—The Civil War Comes to North Carolina, rane and earned a B.A. in English which was published March 1, 2019 and is the subject of and Anthropology, graduating Phi his August 12th presentation. Beta Kappa. After college he lived Philip has written a series of articles describing life and in Burlington, Vermont, tending bar events during the Civil War in North Carolina that have and writing freelance articles, be- been published monthly in Our State magazine. Philip’s fore returning to newspaper work tales of Tarheels during the Civil War may be read at in Delaware and then going west https://www.ourstate.com/civil-war-philip-gerard/. to study fiction writing at the Arizo- na writers workshop with Robert In keeping with his conviction that writers should give Houston, Vance Bourjaily, Richard Shelton, and others. something back to their profession, he has served on the Board of Trustees of the North Carolina Writers Network He earned his M.F.A. in Creative Writing in 1981 and al- and from 1995 until 1998 on the Board of Directors of the most immediately joined the faculty at Arizona State Uni- Associated Writing Programs, for two of those years as versity as a Visiting Assistant Professor and later as Writ- President. He has been appointed to a second three- er in Residence. He remained at ASU until 1986, then year term on the North Carolina Arts Council. He is the taught for a brief time at Lake Forest College in Illinois 2012 recipient of the Sam Talmadge Ragan Award for before migrating to coastal North Carolina, where he had Contributions to the Fine Arts of North Carolina. spent many happy summers during his teenage years roaming the Outer Banks of Hatteras and Ocracoke Is- Philip is co-editor with his wife, Jill Gerard, of Chautau- lands. qua, the literary journal of the Chautauqua Institution, and serves on the faculty of Goucher College's summer He teaches in the BFA and MFA Programs of the Depart- residency MFA program in Creative Nonfiction. ment of Creative Writing at the University of North Caroli- na Wilmington. He has won the Faculty Scholarship Gerard, an avid musician, incorporates bluegrass, folk, Award, the College of Arts & Science Teaching Award, country, and original compositions into his readings, the Chancellor's Medal for Excellence in Teaching, the playing six and twelve-string guitar, dobro, banjo, and Graduate Mentor Award, the Board of Trustees Teaching pedal steel guitar. He and Jill live in Wilmington, NC on Award, and a Distinguished Teaching Professorship. The Whiskey Creek near the Intracoastal Waterway. Philip Gerard Fellowship, endowed by benefactor Charles ~ o ~ The Knapsack 1 August 12, 2019 Civil War Battles in North Carolina By Bob Graesser, Raleigh CWRT Newsletter Editor and Webmaster As a companion piece to this month’s meeting topic, The I originally considered using an 1861 vintage map of Last Battleground—The Civil War Comes to North North Carolina that I found on the Library of Congress Carolina, I thought I’d investigate the number and loca- website. However, it had too much detail and got some- tion of the significant battles occurring in North Carolina what blurry when I attempted to scale it to a larger size. during the Civil War. The current road system depicted on the map also pro- The image above depicts a modern map of the eastern vides a good way of orienting yourself as to the relative half of North Carolina on which I have superimposed location of these battle sites. numbered tags associated with each of the twenty-one significant battles which occurred there during the Civil On the next six pages, I provide a summary of each of War. Note that none of the battles took place west of the twenty-one battles. Note that the battles are num- Chapel Hill, thus the elimination of the western portion of bered in the chronological order in which they occurred. North Carolina on the displayed map. The Knapsack 2 August 12, 2019 Civil War Battles in North Carolina (cont.) the chronological order in which the battle occurred. For example, the first battle which occurred in North During the course of the Civil War, the Union conducted Carolina was the Battle of Hatteras Inlet Batteries which eight military campaigns against North Carolina. To one took place on Aug. 28, 1861 and has the ID NC001. In degree or another, they all supported the North’s Grand the map on page 2, these IDs are abbreviated with just Strategy, laid out by General-in-Chief Winfield Scott at the non-leading zero part of the sequence number. the beginning of the War in April and May 1861. This Thus battle NC001 is indicated on the map as was Scott’s major contribution to the war effort before his retirement in late 1861. Named the Anaconda Plan, Blockade of the Carolina Coast Scott envisioned strangling the South’s economy by (Aug.-Dec. 1861) means of an unbroken navel blockade along the entire Confederate coastline. The Union’s goal of the first campaign, Blockade of the Carolina Coast, was to seal off the Outer Banks, especially at the inlets. The campaign resulted in a single battle, the Battle of Hatteras Inlet Batteries (NC001). This naval operation was a successful pre- liminary step in reducing the number of Confederate blockade runners making it to or from port. Battle of Hatteras Inlet Batteries (NC001) The eight campaigns, in chronological order, were: Burnside’s North Carolina Expedition (Jan.-Jul. 1862) The second campaign, Burnside’s North Carolina Expedition, was a Union amphibious operation to land troops and seize Confederate forts and ports engaged in blockade running. Roanoke Island (NC002), which guarded Albemarle Sound, was taken first. Battle of Roanoke Island (NC002) Note: In the following discussion of Civil War battles tak- ing place in North Carolina, I have identified each battle by an ID as specified by the National Park Service's American Battlefield Protection Program's Civil War Sites Advisory Commission. In that nomenclature, a battle is specified by the 2-letter U.S. Postal Code for the state followed by a three-digit sequential number based upon K = killed; W = wounded; M = missing The Knapsack 3 August 12, 2019 Civil War Battles in North Carolina (cont.) Finally, Col. Robert Potter, Union commander of the captured garrison at Washington at the junction of the New Bern (NC003), situated on the Neuse River and Pamlico and Tar Rivers, attempted a reconnaissance near the line of the Atlantic & North Carolina Railroad, northwest toward Greenville. His troops were stopped both of which were supply routes to the interior, was tak- cold at a bridge over Tranter’s Creek (NC006) and en second. returned to Washington. Battle of New Bern (NC003) Battle of Tranter’s Creek (NC006) At this point, Burnside and his troops were recalled to Virginia to help General McClellan extricate his army from the Virginia Peninsula after his failed attempt to Next to fall was Fort Macon (NC004), which guarded capture Richmond. Beaufort along the southern end of Pamlico Sound as well as Morehead City, the terminus of the Atlantic & The Goldsborough Expedition North Carolina Railroad and another route to the interior. (Dec. 1862) Siege of Fort Macon (NC004) The third campaign, The Goldsborough Expedition, was taken on by Burnside’s successor, Union Maj. Gen. John G. Foster. His goal was the destruction of the railroad bridge at Goldsborough. This bridge was on the important Wilmington and Weldon Railroad line, along which essential supplies received at Wilmington from blockade runners were moved up to Virginia to provide food, clothing, and munitions to Lee and his Army of Northern Virginia. On their way, Foster’s force was blocked at the Neuse River bridge at Kinston (NC007) by a Confederate delaying force. Foster won this engagement and pressed on. Battle of Kinston (NC007) Learning that the Confederates were building ironclads in Norfolk, Burnside sent an expedition to destroy the locks of the southern terminus of the Dismal Swamp Canal at South Mills (NC005), near Elizabeth City.