Friday, March 19, 2010

A return to Onslow County

Well, this is a first. I decided to revisit a county that I have already written about. Thanks to Andrew Duppstadt over at the blog Civil War Navy (et. al.,) I now have a copy of Manarin’s “Onslow County and the Civil War.” It is a small report of 30 pages. However, it provides details on some of the other events that occurred in Onslow County during the War. We’ll get to those in a minute. But for the next couple of minutes, I want to get on my horse again.

I’ve written a couple of times about how there is a serious lack of information regarding the different counties in North Carolina during the War. As look on my shelf that contains my North Carolina books, there are only a few. A while back, we developed this list:

Martin – Ashe County’s Civil War (2001)Casstevens – The Civil War and Yadkin County (1997)Thomas – Divided Allegiances: Bertie County (1996)Dillard – The Civil War in Chowan County (1911) Kell – Carteret County During the Civil War (1999)
McCallum – Martin County During the Civil War (1971)

So, out of 100 counties, only six have county histories. I have two or three that I am interested in myself. But, let me issue this challenge. As we sit here on the edge of the Sesquicentennial of the Civil War, let’s see if we can get every county a history of the War-time in print. No, someone else is not going to do it. The folks at the Department of Culture Resources do not have the time, nor the manpower, nor the money, and some professor at some college or University is not going to take the time. So my challenge is to you, historical or civic society member: put together some type of history of your county for future generations. I will be glad to help you in any way that I can. I might even consider being a co-author, or at least giving you a read. Drop me a line and let’s talk.

Ok, enough of that – back to Onslow County. Here are some other tidbits I gleaned from the Onslow County materials

January 1862 – the British brig York grounded on the beach near Bouge Inlet, and was burned by the Federals.

April 5, 1862 – expedition to Swansboro
April 13 – skirmish at Gillett Farm

August 14, 1862 – expedition up the White Oak River, including skirmish at Swansboro
August 17, 1862 – second expedition up the White Oak Rover, Swansboro taken and salt works destroyed.

October 1862 – Lt. William B. Cushing in Swansboro.

November 1862 – Cushing’s second expedition to Swansboro (mentioned in last post)

June 13-16, 1863 – Federal raid into Onslow County.

November 1863 – Northern schooner, Alice Webb, mistakenly arrives at Swansboro, runs aground, and is captured.

December 1863 – Federal Raid into Onslow County.

December 17, 1863 – schooner G. A. Bigelow, possibly a blockade runner, burned at Bear Inlet by Federal forces. Salt works also destroyed.

January 1864 – Confederate troops under Gen. J. G. Martin move through Onslow County and attack Federals at Newport Barracks.

February 4, 1864 – The blockade runner Nutfield was run aground near Bear Inlet and burned to prevent capture.

March 24-26, 1864 - Federal Naval raid into Onslow County. Force sent to Swansboro turned away after encountering Confederate cavalry. Federal force at Bear Inlet burned schooner, captured some slaves, but abandoned others.

April 1864 – Federal expedition to Swansboro that destroyed supplies and captured 12 Confederate soldiers. Part of town burned.

June 1864 – Federal raid at Swansboro and captured four or five pickets.
June 1864 – Raid at Jacksonville. Federals turned away by Confederates.

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