This Month

After the Battle of New Bern on March 14, 1862, the city was occupied by Union Forces.  New Bern became a major military operation center and supply depot for the Union.  In 1864 the Confederates devised a bold plan to launch a surprise attack by land and sea to recapture New Bern.  John Taylor Wood […]

On January 16, 1777 in the Council Chambers of Tryon Palace, Richard Caswell was sworn in as the first Governor of the state of North Carolina. He served from 1776-1780 and later served as its fifth Governor from 1785-1787. Richard Caswell was born in Maryland, but moved to North Carolina at the age of 16

On December 7, 1939, the North Carolina Society for the Preservation of Antiquities, predecessor to what’s now Preservation North Carolina, met for the first time in the ballroom of the Carolina Hotel in Raleigh. The keynote speaker was Gertrude Carraway of New Bern, who called for the restoration of Tryon Palace.   Read More . . .

On November 26, 1787, Bayard v. Singleton, a landmark North Carolina court case that set a precedent for the exercise of judicial review, was decided in New Bern. That year, Elizabeth Cornell Bayard filed suit to reclaim lands and property of her father, Samuel Cornell, which had been confiscated at the close of the American Revolution because of

On October 30, 1918, James Walker Hood died.  Hood was a missionary in the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, and was sent in 1863 to North Carolina where he served black congregations in New Bern and Beaufort.  He established a North Carolina Conference of the AME Zion Church in 1864.  He became a church bishop in 1872. In addition to

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