News | New Bern Historical Society

Hiding in Plain Sight

Posted by Mickey

· March 18, 2021

by Claudia Houston, Historian, New Bern Historical Society

Old City Hall building circa 1983

You've walked past it countless times -- you know, the big red brick building on the 200 block of Craven Street with "City Hall" emblazoned near the roof. Built in about 1817, the Stephens Brick Block building is considered the earliest surviving commercial structure in downtown New Bern. Most locals know it as Old City Hall, as it served as the seat of city government and even a fire station from 1888 until 1935. Recently, a team of local history hunters discovered an even earlier use for the old building, hidden in plain sight -- the building served as both a Confederate and Union hospital during the Civil War. We're delighted to share the story of the research that led to this discovery.

Stephens Brick Block Building circa 1900

Historian and author Wade Sokolosky recently discovered several wartime documents that identified a military hospital on Craven Street, “next to the Progress Building.” (The New Bern Daily Progress was a local newspaper during that time.) After many discussions, much research, and a little bit of luck, it was determined that the Brick Block Building located at 220-226 Craven Street was first used by the Confederates beginning in January 1861.

The January 31, 1862 edition of the New Bern Daily Progress reported “the rooms adjoining the Progress building have been taken for a hospital and are being overhauled and refitted for that purpose under the supervision of W.A. Holt, Confederate Surgeon. The Dr. is a man of … judgment as will be seen, not only by the internal arrangement of the building but by the improvement in the way of cleaning up, whitewashing etc….” The Branch General Hospital, as it was formally identified by Confederate authorities, operated through the Battle of New Bern fought on March 14, 1862. On the day of the battle, Surgeon Holt labored to remove his patients to the Atlantic and N.C. Railroad depot in town, where they were evacuated toward Kinston.

Upon occupying New Bern, Union authorities impressed several local buildings for use as hospitals. In a report published in the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, Volume 66, 1862, Surgeon Samuel E. Kneeland of the Union Army wrote: “[O]n Sunday, March 16, I was ordered to get the Craven-street Hospital ready for the reception of the wounded in that battle. The building was an old three-story warehouse which had been used as a hospital by the Confederates. I found about 150 bedsteads, with beds and coverings in a most filthy condition; one man dead, and another dying, left by the rebels in their hurried flight. I pressed about a dozen contrabands, and had the building scrubbed from top to bottom, and all the beds and clothing aired and sunned.”

This past January, the Brick Block Building’s owner graciously allowed several of us to tour the building. While sharing with us a general history, the owner shared that he was puzzled by the presence of “whitewashing” in only a portion of the building. Research had revealed only a section of the building had served as a hospital. Civil War hospitals were routinely whitewashed (painted white) to enable better lighting at night, as well as for observing cleanliness. Remarkably, because the hospital part of the building had been closed off for decades and subsequently spared from later modifications, it was like a time capsule. To see the whitewashed walls was truly like stepping back in time.

Civil War era whitewashing still exists

This indeed was the hospital! There we were, standing in a building that had previously served 156 years ago as a wartime hospital. More significantly, it was one of three known North Carolina hospital buildings from the Civil War still standing, not counting historic homes or churches that were used temporarily as hospitals. This exciting revelation further adds to our knowledge of the existence of Civil War hospitals in Eastern Carolina and enriches the significant history of New Bern.

Sokolosky, a well-known local historian and author, is in the process of completing a two-volume series that discusses the history of Civil War hospitals in the Old North State. The first volume titled North Carolina Civil War Hospitals: Confederate is due out in 2022.

Wade Sokolosky, Nathaniel Glasgow & Claudia Houston

Those who worked together to solve this mystery and discover the hospital were Wade Sokolosky; Nathaniel Glasgow, a recent graduate of Appalachian College; Claudia Houston, Historian of NBHS; and Jim Hodges, NBHS Curator, along with the owner of the Brick Block Building. It should be noted that the former hospital is on private property and not available for public viewing. We are currently pursuing the locations of two other Confederate Hospitals here in New Bern prior to the Union occupation.

Categories : Announcements

This Month in New Bern History – March 2021

Posted by Mickey

· March 5, 2021

by Claudia Houston, Historian, New Bern Historical Society

While the inhumanity of war is clear, sometimes acts of humanity during war take us by surprise. One such example is that of Confederate Captain Mayo and his captor, Union Major W. B. Lowell. This is their story.

A map of the battlefield, based on one prepared for General Branch, showing location of Fort Ellis

On March 14, 1862 while the Battle of New Bern raged, four miles south of New Bern stood Fort Ellis, a Confederate fort on the Neuse River where Brinson School currently stands.

Commanding the fort was Captain John Micajah Mayo of the NC 2nd Artillery Regiment, Co A (also known as the NC 36th Regiment, Company F, nicknamed "The Pamlico Artillery"). When the Federal troops broke through the Confederate defenses on the battlefield, General Branch rode on horseback in great haste to the fort and ordered Mayo to destroy his guns and magazine. With over 3,000 pounds of powder and 500 loaded shells in the magazine, it was critical that this ammunition not fall into the hands of the Union Army.

Time was short – the Union was approaching. Quickly Captain Mayo sent his men out of the fort and away from danger and lit the trail to the explosives himself. Unfortunately, he was not far enough away from the blast site when it ignited, causing a massive detonation, described as the largest explosion of the battle. By all estimates, Mayo was thrown at least 100 feet through the air. Both of his legs were broken, his flesh and eyes severely burned, and his body badly mangled. He was reported as being killed.

James Micajah Mayo, courtesy Find A Grave

That night Captain Mayo was found by Major W. B. Lowell of the 11th Connecticut Infantry who was immediately drawn to this man and the courage he displayed, sacrificing himself for the mission instead of risking his men. Major Lowell had Mayo moved through Union lines to the hospital where he was treated by Dr. James B. Whitcomb. Major Lowell greatly admired Mayo’s heroism and told fellow officers, “He’s our prisoner, of course, but he shall never need a friend so long as I live. He voluntarily faced that terrible death rather than require it of one of his men."¹

Lowell visited Captain Mayo every day, wrote dictated letters to Mayo’s mother, read out loud and played the violin for hours. One evening, while grasping Lowell’s hand, Mayo stated, “It seems impossible that we were ever enemies, a brother could not have been kinder nor more self-sacrificing.” ² Despite his severe injuries, Mayo was discharged from the hospital after six months. Impressed by this young Confederate officer, Union General Ambrose Burnside arranged to dine with Mayo before his departure and personally arranged for a special escort to return him to his family farm in Edgecombe County, North Carolina, where he continued to recuperate.

Amazingly, Captain Mayo recovered and extended his service, this time with the NC 4th Cavalry where he was appointed a Major. At the battle of Upperville, VA in June 1863, he was captured and sent to prison. He spent time at two prisons until February 1865 when he was transferred to City Point, VA for exchange. While he was a prisoner at Johnson’s Island Military Prison near Sandusky, OH, he kept a detailed journal of prison life. He wrote two volumes, one of which, August 1863 - March 1864 is in the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress. It is deemed to be one of the best accounts of prison life during the Civil War written by either side in the conflict. The other has been lost.

After the war Mayo returned home to Edgecombe County, NC to practice law (prior to the war, he had studied law at the University of Virginia). He married Florence Lyon and had 8 children. In 1886 he moved with his family to Ocala, Florida and became a land speculator and officer for a new railroad looking to expand its services.

Courtesy Find A Grave

Meanwhile, Major W. B. Lowell wrote to a Confederate Veteran Magazine, in which he told the story of his meeting and becoming friends with Mayo. He related, “I hope he lived through the war if he was ever able to go in again and if alive will write me. …we always found him a gentleman and a man of most wonderful nerve.³

Unfortunately, that reunion was not to be, as Mayo was killed by a train in 1897 in Florence, SC. He was buried on the old Mayo farm near Whitakers, NC. His grave was unmarked until a memorial service in 2000 conducted by Camp 771 of the Sons of Confederate Veterans from Wilson, NC unveiled an official Veterans Grave Marker for Major James Micajah Mayo.

In a little town near the Florida Panhandle is located the county seat of Lafayette County - Mayo, Florida. The plaque in front of the local Court House commemorates the fact that the town is named for Confederate officer James Micajah Mayo. One of his sons, Nathan Mayo, was the Florida Commissioner of Agriculture for 37 years, the longest tenure in the office’s history.

If you would like to hear more about Captain Mayo and other powerful stories of courage and conviction, please join us at the New Bern Historical Society’s Lantern Tour at the New Bern Battlefield site on April 9-10. Click here for details.

^1,2 On the Field of Honor, Annah Robinson Watson, 1902, Sprague Publishing, pages 69, 71.

³Confederate Veteran Magazine, "Thrilling Story by a Union Veteran," Vol 3, 1895, page 383.

Categories : Announcements, This Month in NB History

This Month in New Bern History – February 2021

Posted by Mickey

· February 1, 2021

by Claudia Houston, Historian, New Bern Historical Society

In February 1864, in an ironic turn of events, the Tuscarora Indians participated in a pivotal Civil War battle on the very land near New Bern that they had been forced to leave nearly 150 years prior.

Isaac Newton "Newt" Parker, Co. D, 132nd NY Infantry. Courtesy Missouri Historical Society

The Tuscarora people lived in eastern North Carolina before the Europeans arrived here in the seventeenth century. They initially lived together in peace, but due to differences in cultures, encroachment of land by settlers, kidnapping and enslavement of native people, conflict broke out resulting in the long and bloody Tuscarora Wars from 1711-1715. The Tuscarora suffered a huge defeat at their fort, Neoheroka. Forced from their land, many Tuscarora migrated to New York, becoming the sixth tribe of the Iroquois nation.

In New York, the Tuscarora were eventually forced from their homes and moved by the Federal government to reservations. When tribesmen attempted to enlist in the Union Army in 1861, they were repeatedly rejected from military service by New York recruiters citing the lack of a specific law allowing Native Americans to serve. It should be noted, however, that recruitment of Native Americans took place in other states in the north, like Pennsylvania.

Cornelius C. Cusick, chief of the Tuscarora, appealed to federal officials. He and other Iroquois persistently lobbied the government and as the Union Army was clamoring for more recruits, the ban on Native American enlistments was finally lifted. Cusick became a member of Company D of the 132nd New York State Volunteer Infantry which was popularly called “the Tuscarora Company.” Twenty-five Native Americans from five reservations served in this company, including Isaac Newton Parker, whose father, Chief William Parker, had served with the Americans during the War of 1812.

A natural leader, Cusick came from a proud and educated family. His grandfather had served as a bodyguard and interpreter for the Marquis de Lafayette during the American Revolution and Cusick himself spoke eight Indian languages. He eventually became a first Lieutenant of Company D. On December 28, 1862, the regiment boarded transports to New Bern. The Iroquois soldiers found themselves in the precise area where their tribe had been removed 150 years prior and much to their surprise, they camped near a settlement to the west of New Bern named Tuscarora.

In February 1864, the unit’s mettle was tested. General George Pickett and the Confederate Army attempted to retake New Bern from the Federal Army which had occupied the city since March 14, 1862. There was to be a three-pronged attack by various generals and their brigades. Confederate General Robert Hoke with six thousand men would march east between the Neuse and Trent rivers to New Bern. The only thing in their way was the thinly stretched line of the 132d NY Regiment at Bachelor’s (Batchelder’s) Creek, about eight miles from the city.

At Bachelor’s Creek there was a small federal outpost commanded by Lieutenant Abram Haring, consisting of a blockhouse and breastworks on both sides of the road that crossed the Neuse River bridge. It was a rainy, foggy night when the Confederates attempted to cross the bridge. Although vastly outnumbered, Haring and his men repulsed the Confederates three times. Just as they were running out of ammunition, the Tuscarora Company arrived to reinforce Haring. But even with the arrival of additional companies of the 132nd the Federals were forced to retreat to New Bern.

Although the Union gave up their position at Bachelor’s Creek, the fierce six-hour fight delayed the arrival of additional Confederate troops at New Bern. This upset General Pickett’s plans to retake the city for the south, eventually resulting in his withdrawal the next day. The 132nd NY Tuscarora Company was specifically cited for their bravery and heroic actions that day, and Abram Haring would be awarded the Medal of Honor for his heroism.

Battle of Batchelor's Creek. Drawn by Cornelius C. Cusick (Indian Lieutenant, Co. D 132d Regt. NY Infantry). Collections of East Carolina University.

The 132nd NY participated in two major battles and three significant skirmishes during their time in eastern North Carolina, including in the fight at Jackson Mills, Battle of Wise’s Forks, and several attempts to wrest Kinston from the Confederacy. The fighting soon ended as they joined Sherman’s army in Goldsboro, and then moved to Raleigh at the time of the surrender of North Carolina Confederate forces at Bennett’s farm. The unit was discharged finally in June 1865 and returned to New York.

The irony remains, however. The Tuscarora Company was led by a Tuscarora chief back to his people’s native land to fight Carolinians who had expelled them a century and a half earlier.

Categories : Announcements, This Month in NB History

This Month in New Bern History – January 2021

Posted by Mickey

· February 1, 2021

by Claudia Houston, Historian, New Bern Historical Society

During the 1890’s in New Bern there was a large middle class of African American businesspeople who needed not only goods but services and institutions that would meet their specific needs. One such institution began with great promise, but by January of 1915 had to close its doors. Herein lies the tale of the Mutual Aid Bank.

New Bern’s Mutual Aid Bank was the first African American incorporated banking institution in North Carolina. Its incorporation date was March 6, 1896 and two years later the bank opened at what was then 117 Broad Street (now the 700 block of Broad Street). This was greatly heralded by the Black community as many had lost money during the days of the Freedmen Savings Bank run by the federal government, leaving a great distrust of white owned banks due to their experience. The Mutual Aid Bank offered normal banking services, mortgage lending and added insurance policies for Black businesses as they were excluded from white insurance organizations.

J.T. Barber, Mutual Aid Bank board member, teacher and principal

The various officers of the bank as well as the board of directors included men who were upwardly mobile, educated and committed to improving lives in the Black community. Christopher C. Roach was the bank president, and over time directors included Merritt Whitley, a funeral home director for the African American community and appointed Craven County Undertaker; JT Barber, noted teacher and principal; and William Lassiter, physician. The officers of the bank were C.C Roach, President, H.W. Thompson, Vice President and, J.H. Fisher, Cashier.

In 1907 an incident occurred which had a monumental effect on the future of the bank. A Baltimore distilling company shipped whiskey to parties living in the city of New Bern and sent drafts with bills of lading attached to the Mutual Aid Bank for collection. A suit was brought by this company to recover the balance of the money which a member of the bank had collected but not remitted to the plaintiff. Mr. Dowdy, an employee of the bank, was charged with selling liquor without a license, found guilty and sentenced to prison. The Mutual Aid Bank was ordered to compensate the Baltimore company in the amount of $158.

During a stockholder meeting in 1914 the bank showed assets of over $119,000. Despite this positive posture, the bank never recovered from the lawsuit and did not have sufficient assets to continue running.

On January 12, 1915 Sheriff Lane closed the doors of the Mutual Aid Bank due to failure to pay the judgment against them by the Baltimore distilling company. There was more to come. In February of 1915, after the closing of the bank, the cashier, John H. Fisher was charged with embezzlement. As cashier he had full charge of the bank funds and it was noted at trial, he did with them what he pleased. On June 8, 1915 he was convicted of embezzlement of over $1500, was sentenced to jail for a period of a year and was ordered to repay this amount.

By this time, Blacks were fully disenfranchised due to Jim Crow laws. They were not allowed to vote and no longer could run for office; many migrated north for more lucrative jobs and a better environment. The Mutual Aid Bank began with much promise and hope for a new future for the Black community. But in the end, there were not enough investors, funds were mismanaged and misappropriated, and the bank had to shut its doors.

Categories : Announcements, This Month in NB History

Gateway to History

Posted by Mickey

· January 7, 2021

The Beauty of Downtown Fences & Gates
by Curator Jim Hodges

Isaac Taylor House, 228 Craven St.

Even as a young boy while walking about the streets of downtown New Bern, I was always impressed by the array of metal fences and gates. Although many years have slipped by, my fascination has never waned. Recently, I delved into the matter and documented the variety of these man-made architectural works.

Edward R. Stanly House, 502 Pollock St.

The old adage “good fences make good neighbors“ is certainly open to discussion. My opinion is that these properties, including several churches, installed the fences as an elegant statement of defining the property perimeters. Considering the fact that the height of the fences is in the range of three to four feet, they do not present a formidable deterrent to trespassers other than roaming livestock back in the day. Cedar Grove Cemetery dating to 1798 had many metal fences and gates around family plots. These were placed not only out of respect for their departed loved ones, but also for family pride. Sadly, vandalism, theft, and time have taken a significant toll and very few remain intact.

Of note are the fences around Christ Episcopal Church, First Presbyterian Church, and First Baptist Church. The manufacturers’ emblems are normally affixed to the gates and none were observed on the fences. Christ Episcopal and First Presbyterian fences are attributed to Stewart Iron Works of Cincinnati, Ohio and the fence around First Baptist was made by Champion Iron Fence Company of Kenton, Ohio. Although Champion Iron Fence Company was only in business from 1876 to circa 1910, that is not the case for the Stewart Iron Work.

First Baptist Church, 239 Middle St.

First Presbyterian Church, 412 New St.

The story behind the success of Stewart Iron Works is especially interesting. In 1862, the business was started by Richard Clayborne Stewart, Sr. as the Stewart Iron Fence Company in Covington, Kentucky. By the advent of the 20th century, Stewart Iron was recognized as the largest ornamental iron furniture manufacturer in the United States and the largest ornamental fence company in the world. With astute management, the business incorporated in 1902 into three separate entities: The Stewart Structural and Iron Bridge Company, The Stewart Iron Fence Company, and The Stewart Jail Works. The Jail Works business provided jail cells for Alcatraz, Sing-Sing, Leavenworth and many prisons across the country.

JRB Carraway House, 207 Broad St.

Prior to WWI, Stewart Iron merged with US Motor Trucks and manufactured the heavy duty trucks used by the US Army during the war. During WWII, Stewart Iron participated and produced portable Bailey bridges and tank armor. With the creation of the interstate highway system in the 1950s and 1960s, Stewart was awarded the contract for chain link fencing to line the highways coast to coast.

At the close of the 20th century, Stewart Iron Works had weathered the ups and downs of business cycles and was prospering. In 2005, it was purchased by a group of investors and, in 2019, was acquired by the HGC Group of Companies. Although under an umbrella, Stewart Iron Works still operates under its original name at its headquarters in Covington, Kentucky and is a recognized leader in the wrought iron and ornamental metal industry.

Next time when you are downtown and see one of these hundred-plus-year-old fences and gates, appreciate not only the historical significance they contribute to our town, but also the American companies dedicated to outstanding quality and craftsmanship that built them.

Cedar Grove Cemetery

Joseph L. Rhem House, 701 Broad St.

Wade Meadows House, 221 East Front St.

Register of Deeds Office, 226 Pollock St.

John R. Justice House, 221 East Front St.

Categories : Announcements

This Month in New Bern History – December 2020

Posted by NBHS OFFICE ADMINISTRATOR

· November 30, 2020

by Claudia Houston, Historian, New Bern Historical Society

This month marks the death 98 years ago of a distinguished New Bern native for whom a liberty ship was named. This is the story of diplomat, author, and legal scholar Hannis Taylor.

After the Union occupation of New Bern during March 1862, many local families fled the city and found themselves transplanted to other parts of the state or country. Richard Nixon Taylor, a local merchant, his wife, Susan Stevenson, and six children were one such family.

Hannis Taylor, the couples’ oldest son, was precocious and began school at the age of four. He attended New Bern Academy until his family left the city due to the Civil War. They eventually resided in Raleigh where Hannis entered the University of North Carolina in 1867. Mr. Taylor’s store failed, and financial constraints forced Hannis to withdraw nine months later. The family returned to New Bern where Hannis served as a law clerk for John N. Washington. However, during 1869 a large outbreak of tuberculosis claimed the life of his five-year-old sister Hannah as well as that of John Washington. His mother contracted tuberculosis and was advised to move to a drier climate. The Taylor family thus moved to Port Clear, Alabama where Mr. Taylor began work at a turpentine factory. With the loss of his job and his wife’s death, he was unable to function and young Hannis, at age 20, became the head of the household.

Hannis moved his father and siblings to Mobile Alabama. He worked for a local law firm and his modest salary enabled him to rent a house for all. Hannis had been raised as a Baptist in New Bern, but he began attending services at St. Mary’s Catholic Church where he was introduced to 19-year-old Leonora LeBaron who he wed in 1878.

Hannis was admitted to the bar and practiced law in Mobile from 1870-1892. He was admitted to practice at both the Alabama Supreme Court and the US Supreme Court. He became the state solicitor for Baldwin County, Alabama, and rewrote the Mobile city charter, helping to keep the city from being liable for Reconstruction debts. A prominent legal and political activist, he was named President of the Alabama State Bar, a position he held for several terms.

Taylor’s scholarship and political activity led to his appointment by President Grover Cleveland as Minister to Spain from 1893-1897. He had a keen knowledge of constitutional and international law; between 1897-1901 he completed his treatise on the Origin and Growth of the English, a study of the development of the English constitutional system and its growth to the Federal Republic of the U.S. This work was adopted by many U.S. and European universities and law schools as a text or reference book, earning Taylor a reputation in international scholarship circles. In recognition of his impressive work, he was granted the honorary degree of LLD from the University of Edinburgh, Dublin University and eight American universities.

Hannis ran unsuccessfully for the US House of Representatives from Alabama in 1898 and 1900. He then moved his family to Washington DC. where he spent five years as an attorney and professor of law at Georgetown University, served as special adviser to the Spanish Treaty Claims Commission, and as American counsel to the Alaskan Boundary Tribunal. A prodigious author, he published many scholarly articles for the North American Review and other prestigious journals.

On December 16, 1922 at the age of 71, Hannis Taylor died of Bright’s disease and was buried at Fort Lincoln Cemetery in Maryland. In 1943 a liberty ship was commissioned the SS Hannis Taylor in his honor.

Categories : Newsletter, This Month in NB History

This Month in New Bern History – November 2020

Posted by NBHS OFFICE ADMINISTRATOR

· October 23, 2020

by Claudia Houston, Historian, New Bern Historical Society

Winslow Homer “Thanksgiving Day in the Army – After Dinner: The Wish-Bone” (from Harper's Weekly, Vol. VIII), courtesy Metropolitan Museum of Art website

During November our thoughts often turn to family, food and home in preparation for Thanksgiving. Although we deeply associate the story of the Pilgrims’ first Thanksgiving with this celebration, Thanksgiving has strong roots in the Civil War.

Through the years, many of our leaders have asked that a day be set aside to express our thankfulness. The Continental Congress during the Revolutionary War asked that days be dedicated to give thanks, and in 1789 George Washington issued a proclamation of thanks during the first year of his presidency. Presidents John Adams and James Madison issued proclamations as well.

During the Civil War, the Thanksgiving holiday was a cultural tradition celebrated locally by communities in different regions of the United States. Both the Union and the Confederate Armies held periodic and separate days of thanksgiving in response to military victories. Confederate President Jefferson Davis called for a “day of fasting, humiliation and prayer” to take place on November 15, 1861. Sarah Josepha Hale, editor of a popular women’s magazine, lobbied President Abraham Lincoln to establish a national day of Thanksgiving as an attempt to unify a nation that was strongly divided along many lines. On October 3, 1863 Lincoln issued a Thanksgiving Day Proclamation that was written by Secretary of State William Seward which offered a hopeful message. On November 26, 1863, President Lincoln held the first official Thanksgiving Day celebration.

How did the troops celebrate during the war? For many southerners, this day was a day like all the rest. Many refused to celebrate as they viewed Thanksgiving as a New England abolitionist holiday. For the Union troops the response was a bit different. Many remembered past Thanksgivings surrounded by family and loved ones.

In 1862, Edward J. Bartlett of Concord, Massachusetts, age 19, enlisted in the 44th Massachusetts Infantry, Co F and was stationed at New Bern. He wrote letters home in 1862 describing his first Thanksgiving as a soldier. There were elaborate preparations, decorations, and food:

“First we had oysters then turkey and chicken pie then plum pudding then apple raisin & coffee with plenty of good soft bread & butter. After we had all eaten a little too much, people usualy [sic] do on Thanksgiving days and we who had lived so long on hard tack did our best[,] we had a fine sing.” (Massachusetts Historical Society)

The next year he wrote on 15 November 1863 from Nashville, Tennessee, stating:

“Our company Thanksgiving in the barracks last year is a day that I can never forget. Six of those boys are now dead. Poor Hopkinson, the president, in his address, [said] ‘that he hoped the next year would see us all at our own family tables.’ He died two months after.”

Bartlett spent Thanksgiving 1864 stationed at Point Lookout, Maryland, guarding Confederate prisoners-of-war. He wrote to his sister Martha about his homesickness on the evening before the holiday:

“Thanksgiving eve. I sat over the fire, thinking of what you were doing at home, and what I had done on all the Thanksgiving eve’s, that I could remember.”

In the darkest days of our history, with thousands of men dying on battlefields far from home, during wartime or peace, Americans still paused and give thanks for what we have. May we honor them by continuing to do so.

Happy Thanksgiving from the New Bern Historical Society family!

Winslow Homer “Thanksgiving in Camp” (from Harper's Weekly, Vol. VII), courtesy Metropolitan Museum of Art website

Categories : Newsletter, This Month in NB History

This Month in New Bern History – October 2020

Posted by Mickey

· October 21, 2020

by Claudia Houston, Historian, New Bern Historical Society

Appleton Oaksmith, one of the most eccentric characters in New Bern history, died this month in 1887. While he did not reside in New Bern, he was known here primarily due to his purchase and reconstruction of the Simpson house at 226 East Front Street. Later known as the Simpson-Oaksmith-Patterson House, this unique house has been the focus of more stories and traditional history than any other structure in New Bern.

Per the National Register of Historic Places, in 1810, Samuel Simpson purchased the original portion of the house which stood at the southeast corner of Pollock and East Front Streets. In 1843 a huge fire destroyed a good portion of the homes on Pollock Street and it appears that Simpson’s federal style brick house was rebuilt between 1843-1846. (Sandbeck, Peter, The Historic Architecture of New Bern and Craven County, NC Architecture pgs.108-109, Tryon Palace Commission 1988). The house remained in the Simpson family until 1860 when it changed hands. During the Civil War, the house served as a Provost Marshal’s office and jail. Appleton and Augusta Oaksmith purchased the home sometime in 1874 and after 1884 began operating the Vance Academy, a boarding and day school, in the house.

Advertisement for the Vance Academy in the Simpson-Oaksmith House after house was renovated (NBHS files)

Between 1884 and 1887, Appleton Oaksmith began remodeling this house in a perplexing – if not bizarre – style. In 1888 George Nowitzky visited New Bern and described the house in this manner:

“The Greatest Architectural Curiosity in the South. It is formed by one of New Bern’s oldest brick buildings (one has done duty as a jail), transformed into such a remarkable combination and blending of dormers, balconies, pinnacles, fantastic-looking tower, railings, human, griffin and dog heads as to make it a veritable architectural puzzle. No one knows what it was intended for, and the owner, apparently believing it is nobody’s business, has failed to enlighten them.”
(Green, John III, A New Bern Album, The Tryon Palace Commission, 1985 pg. 137)

The house was referred to by many as “Blackbeard’s House” as there were rumors of a secret tunnel allowing the pirate to smuggle treasure. Blackbeard died long before the house was built, but the rumors persisted. Many speculated that Appleton Oaksmith used the secret tunnel for smuggling purposes. Some said that the house was fashioned after Morro Castle in Havana, but why, no one knew.

The storied house reflected Oaksmith’s unconventional character. Appleton Oaksmith was an ambitious man, with vision, boldness and daring -- yet his ethics were questionable. He was a sea captain, writer, munitions supplier, soldier of fortune, slave trader, politician, blockade runner, entrepreneur, railroad speculator, and some said, a pirate.

Oaksmith was born in Portland, Maine in 1827 to literary and accomplished parents. Armed with fluency in four languages and a passion for arts and science, at the age of 16 Oaksmith set sail for China. Over the next few years he ventured to South America, the Caribbean and Africa while trading goods. He heavily financed military expeditions in Cuba and Nicaragua from 1855-1856 and lost a great deal of money. He dabbled in the magazine business, railroad speculation, paper mill ownership, and even Tammany Hall politics.

In 1861, Oaksmith was arrested, imprisoned, and convicted of slave trading. He was jailed in Boston but escaped from prison in 1862 with the help of friends who bribed the guards. He hid in his grandmother’s home in Maine for a year where he fell in love with his cousin, Augusta Mason. This was problematic as he was married since 1855 to Isotta Rebecchini, an Italian musician who bore him four children.

Oaksmith sailed to England where he spent years in exile. Despite his fugitive status, he became a sea captain and blockade runner for the Confederacy, sailing from England to Texas. He was almost captured in 1864 when his ship was boarded by the Union Navy, but he managed to escape and return to England.

Oaksmith’s personal life was as tumultuous as his checkered career. He filed for and obtained a divorce from his wife Isotta in 1866 without her knowledge. He then coerced her into giving up custody of their four children, vowing she would never see them again if she did not sign papers. Isotta reluctantly complied, but Appleton still allowed no contact with the children. He then married his cousin Augusta in Canada in 1867, with whom he had an additional eight children.

On a trip back to the US, Oaksmith landed in Beaufort, NC to make repairs to his ship. While there, he attended an auction and successfully bid $11.25 for property west of Morehead City, known as Becton Place. Oaksmith sailed back to England but finally in 1873 returned with his wife and children to make Carteret County their home. He hired locals to reconstruct a home from a building that had been a Union Army barracks. He purchased another 300 prime acres which includes nearly all of present-day Atlantic Beach and a portion of Pine Knoll Shores. He put all the property in the name of his wife and her sister, calling his vast estate Hollywood.

With the stigma of the slave-trading affair hanging over him, Oaksmith resolved to clear his name. Using an alias, he met with President Ulysses Grant. Oral history has it that after a short meeting, Grant was swayed to sign the pardon. When the President asked why his visitor pleaded so earnestly for this man, the audacious Oaksmith smugly replied, "Because I am Appleton Oaksmith."

In 1874 Oaksmith ran for the state House of Representatives from Carteret County which he won, serving one term. While in office, the visionary Oaksmith hatched many development plans for the county. He recommended dredging Beaufort Harbor and the Neuse River. He tried to acquire Fort Macon to serve as a resort hotel but when that failed, he then planned to develop the Atlantic Beach area into a seaside resort. Oaksmith was not able to obtain backing for his ambitious plans.

Business failures, sickness, and personal tragedy mark Oaksmith’s last years. On July 4, 1879 he set sail for Beaufort on an outing in the family boat with six of his children, four girls and two boys ranging in age from 5-21. The boat capsized. None of the children could swim and the four girls tragically drowned. Son Ralph, age 17, told the Sheriff that his father had tried to drown them all, an accusation which Oaksmith vehemently denied. Authorities believed Oaksmith’s account and Ralph left home, never to return.

After the loss, Oaksmith became reclusive; his mental and physical health declined. Suffering from unbearably painful malaria attacks, seizures, and even paralysis, he spent several years between home and NY hospitals. On October 29, 1887, in NY, Appleton Oaksmith died. His body was returned to Carteret County by train.

The New Bern Daily Journal of October 30, 1887 wrote:

“… In many respects Captain Oaksmith was a remarkable man. A true history of his life would doubtless make an interesting little volume.”

Photo of Simpson-Oaksmith House taken by photographer William Garrison Reed shortly before renovations by Oaksmiths (photo NBHS).

His widow Augusta Oaksmith sold the whimsical brick home in New Bern and it changed owners many times thereafter. In 1974, “The Greatest Architectural Curiosity in the South” was unceremoniously demolished, leaving today a gravel parking lot across from the Galley Stores and Marina gas pumps. Thus ends a very fanciful chapter in New Bern history.

Categories : Announcements, This Month in NB History

This Month in New Bern History – September 2020

Posted by NBHS OFFICE ADMINISTRATOR

· September 1, 2020

by Claudia Houston, Historian, New Bern Historical Society

Photo from Wikipedia

On September 19, 1889, a young professional, educated couple were married in New Bern. Together they were to have a profound effect in establishing an African American middle class and promoting gender and racial equality in 19^th century New Bern. This is their story.

Meet Sarah Dudley, born in New Bern in 1869, the first free woman born into a family whose members had been slaves since the Revolutionary War. After attending local schools, Sarah entered Scotia Seminary, a progressive Presbyterian women’s school in Concord, NC, where she studied classics, Latin, and other subjects traditionally reserved for male students. Sarah graduated with distinction and returned to New Bern to teach. As the daughter of a black state representative, Sarah was taught the importance of civic engagement at an early age.

Charles Pettey was born into slavery; after emancipation he learned to read, worked tirelessly at multiple crafts, and saved every penny for his education. In 1872 he walked ninety miles to Charlotte to enter Biddle Memorial Institute where he studied the classics, Latin and Greek. After graduation he quickly became an elder in the growing African Methodist Episcopal Zion (AME Zion) Church. He started a school in South Carolina as well as founding a monthly newspaper for the AME Zion Church, the Star of Zion, which soon became one of the most influential black newspapers in the country. He married Lula Pickenpack, Sarah’s roommate at Scotia, and moved to California where he established the town of Petteyville and several new AME Zion churches. Lula died in 1887, leaving Charles a widower with two young girls. Charles and Sarah reconnected in New Bern and were married in September 1889.

In New Bern, the Petteys were one of many successful middle-class black families of leaders and businessmen. Well educated professionals, they were active community volunteers who fought for racial and gender equality. While many members of AME Zion were uncomfortable with women taking on a prominent role, Charles was his wife's most steadfast supporter. He encouraged her to write a column for the Star of Zion and urged her to follow his sermons with her own. Sarah’s influential sermons included “Woman, the Equal of Man” and “Women’s Suffrage.” Among her most powerful quotes: “Some would say that a woman was good in her place. This reminds me of what some white people say about the Negro, that “’he is good in his place.’”

Charles demonstrated his belief in women’s equality when, in 1898, he allowed the ordination of a

woman as an elder in the AME Zion Church -- the first ordination of a woman in any denominational church and highly controversial at the time.

Charles became the Bishop of the Church District of Texas, Louisiana, and Alabama and the couple traveled extensively. Fueled by their ideals and hopes for a new south, they worked together to fulfill their vision of a future of racial and gender equality. Their belief in progress, however, was thwarted by the growth of the white supremacy movement, culminating in 1898 when more than ten black Wilmington city leaders were killed at the hands of white vigilantes. By 1900, the North Carolina legislature had effectively revoked the right of blacks to vote by enacting literacy tests and poll taxes. Jim Crow had come to roost in the south.

Photo from New York Public Library Digital Collection

Charles died suddenly in 1900 and Sarah, disheartened by the oppression of Jim Crow laws, moved north with her family. Six years later, at the age of 37, Sarah Dudley Pettey died. Both Charles and Sarah are buried at Greenwood Cemetery in New Bern. Ironically, it would be another 15 years before women would be allowed to vote and another 60 years before African American men and women in North Carolina would experience the freedom that Charles and Sarah had known in the progressive New Bern of the late 19^th century.

Note – you can hear Sarah Dudley Pettey tell her story in the New Bern Historical Society’s online presentation Ordinary Women, Extraordinary Deeds at www.newbernhistorical.org.

Categories : Events, Newsletter, This Month in NB History

This Month in New Bern History – August 2020

Posted by NBHS OFFICE ADMINISTRATOR

· July 16, 2020

by Claudia Houston, Historian, New Bern Historical Society

North Carolina Highway Marker at Broad and Craven Street, New Bern, NC

New Bern is well known for its many significant “firsts” – North Carolina’s first capital, first printing press, first newspaper, first published book, and first postal service, among others. But one “famous first” in August of 1774 had a tremendous impact upon the future formation of the state of North Carolina as well as the United States of America. What was this historic event?

To set the stage, the colonial resistance movement against the British government culminated with the Boston Tea Party in December of 1773, which greatly angered Great Britain. By June of 1774, Parliament passed a series of punitive laws in retaliation that became known as “The Intolerable Acts”. North Carolinians joined the other colonies to support opposition to Parliament’s retaliatory measures against Massachusetts. North Carolina’s colonial leaders agreed to meet in New Bern, the colonial capital, to outline their concerns, plan further opposition to Great Britain and choose delegates to the Continental Congress to be held in Philadelphia. Several men were elected to represent Craven County: Richard Cogdell, Joseph Leech, and Lemuel Hatch. Isaac Edwards and Abner Nash were elected to represent New Bern.

On August 25, 1774, North Carolina’s First Provincial Congress met at the County Courthouse in New Bern with seventy-one delegates present at roll call. It was the first such meeting held in any of the thirteen colonies. The meeting took place near Tryon Palace, the residence of Royal Governor Josiah Martin, who was not invited to attend. Although he received daily reports about what transpired during the assembly, he made no attempt to stop the meeting. The moderator of the First Provincial Congress was John Harvey, who presided over delegates from thirty of the then thirty-six counties, as well as additional members from six towns.

The New Bern Resolves issued by the First Provincial Congress declared that, while they remained loyal to the King, they repudiated the Intolerable Acts, deeming British taxation “highly illegal and oppressive”. To protest Parliament’s actions against New England, the provincial congress approved a trade boycott of all British goods. It then endorsed a general congress for the provinces and nominated Richard Caswell, William Hooper, and Joseph Hewes to represent North Carolina in the First Continental Congress scheduled in Philadelphia for September 1774. The provincial congress also recommended the formation of local committees of safety which would better enable communication.

The First Provincial Congress was the first of five congresses held in North Carolina from 1774-1776 to create the revolutionary government structure. Among many things, they organized an army for defense and wrote a constitution and bill of rights which eventually led to the establishment of the state of North Carolina. In the fifth and final provincial congress that met in Halifax in 1776, they approved the Constitution of North Carolina and elected Richard Caswell of Kinston as the first Governor of the State of North Carolina.

These first five congresses were a testament to the North Carolina colonists’ determination to become self-governing and to their readiness to achieve that goal. The First Provincial Congress was a “first” not only for New Bern, but directly led to the formation of our current state government, the first meeting of the North Carolina state Legislature on April 7, 1777 also in New Bern, and ultimately, the establishment of the new nation.

Categories : Events, This Month in NB History

New Bern Historical Society

511 Broad Street, New Bern, NC 28560
Telephone: 252-638-8558
Email: adminoffice@newbernhistorical.org

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