This Month

On September 5, 1802, political rivals John Stanly and Richard Dobbs Spaight, both armed with smooth-bore flintlock pistols, took deliberate aim at each other and fired. It was 5:30 p.m., and the pair were positioned behind the Masonic Lodge in New Bern. Approximately 300 spectators crowded around.   On the fourth discharge, Spaight fell, having been struck […]

On August 9, 1751, James Davis issued the North-Carolina Gazette, the first newspaper to appear in the colony.  Davis had established the colony’s first printing press two years earlier in New Bern. In that capacity he printed currency and various official publications. Read More . . . Courtesy of This Day in North Carolina History

On July 30, 1863, Gen. Edward Wild departed New Bern with his “African Brigade” for the coast of South Carolina. The 1st NCCV, raised by Wild in North Carolina, became the 35th United States Colored Troops (USCT), fighting all of its battles and skirmishes in South Carolina and Florida, including the action at Battery Wagner, later

Capture of the Legendary Snap Dragon, 1814 On June 30, 1814, Otway Burns’ privateering ship Snap Dragon, temporarily under the command of Captain W. R. Graham, was captured by the British near, Halifax, Nova Scotia. Burns had the vessel outfitted for privateering through the sale of stock. . Burns, who was born near Swansboro, made three

On May 26, 1864, a deadly torpedo explosion occurred at Batchelor’s Creek, about eight miles west of New Bern. For the Union forces stationed there, the losses were devastating. Initial reports claimed that 40 soldiers were killed in an accident while unloading the last four of 13 torpedoes from a train car. The torpedoes were intended

On April 20, 1791, George Washington visited Tryon Palace in New Bern during his Southern Tour. Washington’s visit was warmly received by New Bernians. During his two-day stay, the president dined at Tryon Palace and  also visited many of New Bern’s well-known citizens including John Wright Stanly, John Sitgreaves and Richard Dobbs Spaight. Read More . . .

On February 2, 1864, Commander John Taylor Wood of the Confederate Navy, led a raid involving 14 boats and carrying 250 sailors from Kinston to the Neuse River at New Bern. The 325-ton federal steamer USS Underwriter was captured at New Bern in a well-executed pre-dawn raid. Read more . . . Courtesy of This Day in North Carolina History.

George Henry White (December 18, 1852 – December 28, 1918) was an American attorney and politician, elected as a Republican U.S. Congressman from North Carolina and serving between 1897 and 1901. He is considered the last African-American Congressman of the Jim Crow era, one of twenty to be elected in the late nineteenth century from

On December 1, 1922, the Rowland Lumber Company in New Bern caught fire. While firefighters were still battling the Rowland blaze, a second fire started in a residence on Kilmarnock Street. It was reported that the flames “spread out like a giant fan” until they reached the Neuse River. Altogether about 1,000 homes, businesses and