On July 1, 1863, the first day of the Battle of Gettysburg, the 26th NC infantry encountered the famed 24th Michigan, known as the “Iron Brigade.” The battle was long and bloody, but the 26th NC defeated their opponent on that day. While their courage will be forever remembered, the unit suffered unparalleled loss.
Prior to Gettysburg, the 26th NC Regiment had their first foray into battle at New Bern during March, 1862. Most of the troops were from the middle and western part of the state and they were commanded by Zebulon Vance who later became the war time Governor of NC. While Confederate forces were defeated at New Bern, the 26th NC later distinguished itself in battle.
Before arriving at Gettysburg, PA, the 26th NC had 843 soldiers, and was the largest regiment in Robert E. Lee’s Army. On the first day of the battle of Gettysburg, the 26th NC advanced at McPherson’s Ridge against the 24th Michigan. Their commander, Henry King Burgwyn Jr., age 21, known as the “boy colonel”, was shot through his lungs and killed while transferring the regimental colors. Another thirteen flag bearers were shot and one by one, every colonel, major, and captain was either killed or wounded. The only remaining officer, Colonel H.C. Albright, took command of the entire regiment. The fight between the 26th NC and 24th Michigan was the bloodiest engagement of the three day battle of Gettysburg. The 26th NC had 558 casualties out of 843 soldiers. Company E was left with twelve men, and Co F consisted of one color bearer.
On July 3, the last day of battle, the regiment again fought, this time at Cemetery Ridge. Eight more color bearers were killed or wounded, including Sgt Robert Hudspeth of Co. F. Ninety-nine men were killed in total. Despite the odds, one color bearer and Sergeant carried the 26th NC colors to the top of the slope and stone wall. The Union troops of the 12th New Jersey, out of respect for their courage, held their fire and helped them over the wall where they surrendered. On this third day, the 26th NC had numbered about 230 men. That night, only three officers and 67 men were able to answer roll call. All twenty men who carried the colors, 81 out of 82 men in Co E and all 93 men in Company F were dead. The 26th NC lost the highest number in any regiment in a single battle during the Civil War.
There are two monuments at Gettysburg in honor of the 26th NC. The monument at the Angle is the smallest, representing the tremendous loss of life from the regiment. The other, at Meredith Avenue, reflects the size of the unit after the first day battle. On March 10, 2007, the Society for the Historical Preservation of the 26th Regiment North Carolina Troops erected a monument at the New Bern Battlefield to honor the unit. It is the largest monument to the 26th NC, representing the unit at full strength.
A man credited with revolutionizing naval warfare was born in this month in New Bern. Gabriel James Rains was born in June 1803, the eldest son of Ester Ambrose and Gabriel Manigault Rains, a cabinet maker. He and his younger brother, George Washington Rains, both attended New Bern Academy and West Point, and were said to be brilliant. They became experts in the use of land mines, torpedoes, and other explosives and were known in New Bern as the "the Bomb Brothers."
Marker on East Front Street near boyhood home
Gabriel Rains graduated from the US Military Academy at West Point, New York in 1827, 13th in his class. He was commissioned as a 2nd lieutenant and fought in the Seminole Wars. It was in 1839 at Fort King, Florida that Rains first began to experiment with explosives. He was shot during an altercation with Indians and was so badly wounded that his death was announced in the paper. He recovered and was promoted to brevet major due to gallantry and meritorious conduct in the attack. Rains then served during the Mexican War as well as the Indian wars on the West Coast. At the outbreak of the Civil War Rains resigned his commission and on 31 July 1861 joined the Confederate Army. On 23 September 1861 he was appointed brigadier general from North Carolina and given command over a brigade near Richmond. Rains commanded at Yorktown during the winter of 1861–62 and continued his experiments with mines. He developed a type of subterranean mine called "torpedoes,” patterned after a design by Samuel Colt. The development of the first modern mechanically-fused high explosive anti-personnel land mines was attributed to Rains during the Battle of Yorktown in 1862. Rains also invented a machine for manufacturing gun caps.
Rains was placed in command of the conscription and torpedo bureaus at Richmond in and while organizing a system of torpedoes and mines to protect the harbors, he began to devise plans for the torpedo defense of Confederate ports. President Jefferson Davis was impressed and directed Rains to put his plans into operation. Rains was sent to Vicksburg, Charleston, and Mobile. From then until the end of the war he bolstered the defenses of major Southern ports with torpedoes and mines.
By the end of the Civil War, nearly 2,000 standard pattern "Rains mines" were deployed. Rains was formally appointed chief of a newly created Torpedo Bureau on 17 June 1864 and remained in this position until the close of the war. Under his supervision torpedo factories were established at Richmond and Wilmington. Although Confederate leaders early in the war objected to the use of mines on moral grounds, these devices were widely employed by the end of the conflict and were a great success. They provided an effective deterrent to Union naval attack, and they sank about fifty-eight Union vessels.
After the war Rains lived for a time in Atlanta before moving to South Carolina, where he worked as a clerk from 1877 to 1880 in the Quartermaster's Department of the U.S. Army at Charleston. He died in Aiken, S.C. on August 6, 1881 and was buried at St. Thaddeus Cemetery.
In 1893, a local Pharmacist invented a drink named Pepsi Cola and started a company which by 1915 had $1 million in assets. However, on May 31, 1923, his company officially declared bankruptcy. Who was he and what happened?
Pepsi-Cola Plant in New Bern at the corner of Hancock and Johnson Street which became Pepsi Headquarters. (ECU Digital Collection http://digital.lib.ecu.edu/36324)
Caleb Bradham grew up in Chinquapin, North Carolina, and graduated from UNC at Chapel Hill. He dropped out of medical school at the University of Maryland due to his father’s bankruptcy. He taught school in New Bern at the Vance Academy, and was able to then enroll at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy. After graduation, he returned to New Bern and opened Bradham’s Pharmacy at the corner of Middle and Pollock Streets. Most drug stores at that time had soda fountains and featured various drinks. Caleb concocted a popular drink that his friends named “Brad’s Drink” in honor of Bradham. He renamed the drink Pepsi-Cola (thought to be a combination of Pepsin and Cola as he thought the drink would aid digestion). The drink sold well and Bradham decided to manufacture and patent it. The syrup was sold to drug stores where it was mixed with soda and sold as Pepsi-Cola. In 1903 he registered the trademark and soon gave up managing his pharmacy to devote all his time to this new company.
Pepsi-Cola Plant in New Bern at the corner of Hancock and Johnson Street which became Pepsi Headquarters. (ECU Digital Collection http://digital.lib.ecu.edu/36324)
Bradham was a talented salesman and visionary businessman. Pepsi was so successful that in 1905, Bradham began to bottle his product and sell it to grocery stores. He hired two bottling companies to keep up with the demand and created many jobs in New Bern and across the Southeast. He began selling franchises, starting with two in 1905. By 1910 he had 300 bottlers in 24 states and held the first Bottlers Convention in New Bern. Bradham began innovative advertising campaigns featuring famous people, the first of whom was race car driver Barney Oldfield. Due to the high demand for products, Pepsi was one of the first companies to ship products via motorized transportation rather than horses.
Caleb Bradham was involved in all aspects of his business, but he also participated in community affairs. He served as the Chairman of the Craven County Commissioners, President of the People’s Bank of New Bern, Exalted Ruler of the Elks, as well as many other clubs and services. He was a member of the Naval Reserve for twenty-five years, retiring as a Rear Admiral. He funded the Bradham Prize for thirty years, a yearly scholarship at UNC for the Pharmacy student with the highest average.
Despite much success, sugar prices contributed to the end of the company. During WWI, sugar was rationed, creating production problems. After the war, sugar prices fluctuated, and Bradham stockpiled sugar, predicting that the price would increase again. He purchased sugar at twenty-eight cents per pound, but in a short time, the price plummeted to five cents per pound. His customers refused to pay more than five cents per soda bottle, and Bradham could not meet production costs. Despite his attempt to reorganize, Bradham was forced to file for bankruptcy in May 1923 and the company was sold to creditors for $30,000. Caleb Bradham returned to his pharmacy but after a long illness, died on February 19, 1934. He is buried at Cedar Grove Cemetery.
What Happened in New Bern in April
Cullen Andrews Battle was born in Georgia, grew up in Alabama, died in Greensboro, NC, and was buried in Virginia. Yet nearly three decades after his death on April 8, 1905, a temporary Army camp at Glenburnie Park, New Bern, was named in his honor - Camp Battle. What was this man’s connection to New Bern?
Cullen A. Battle was born in Georgia in 1829 and raised in Alabama, graduating from the University of Alabama. He practiced law and politics until Alabama seceded from the Union in 1861. Battle raised a company of volunteers and joined the Third Alabama Regiment, fighting valiantly in many Civil War battles. He was promoted to Brigadier General after his gallantry at Gettysburg. After the war, he returned to Alabama to resume his law practice, and though elected to Congress, he was prevented from taking his seat.
Battle’s son, Henry Wilson Battle, became pastor of the First Baptist Church in New Bern in January 1888. General Battle joined his son in New Bern and for a short period of time, edited the New Bern Sun Journal. He was elected Mayor by New Bern councilmen on 8 May 1890 even though he had not requested the office nor was he told about his nomination. He was a popular Mayor and an eloquent speaker. General Battle later followed his son Henry to Greensboro, NC, where he died.
Thirty-eight years later, Camp Battle, located approximately two miles northwest of the city of New Bern, NC was named in honor of General Cullen Battle. The Eastern Carolina Fair Association had owned and used the property for local fairs until 1919 when the City of New Bern purchased the land from them for $15,000. The property was then used as a city park until 1942 when the US Army leased approximately 70 acres of Glenburnie Park from the City of New Bern for $1 a year.
In 1942 the 1st Infantry Regiment was sent to Camp Battle to guard the Neuse and Trent River Bridges. Their mission was to patrol installations in the area, including Cherry Point and Camp Lejeune. Lieutenant Colonel Wilson Stephenson, the commanding officer, officially named the encampment Camp Battle. The Camp could house 753 military personnel. Improvements to the Camp were made by the government at a cost of $193,300 and included 85 wood frame buildings such as barracks, supply rooms, latrines, and mess halls.
On June 20th, 1944, Camp Battle became a German Prisoner of War Camp where more than 600 POW’s were sent and housed. The POW camp was solely under DOD control during the period of their lease and use. In November 1946, the lease was cancelled.
The site of Camp Battle is presently used as Glenburnie Park. There are no remnants of the camp itself; however one of the picnic shelters at the park may have the foundation of one of the Camp Battle buildings. A historical plaque commemorating the camp was placed inside the park with the assistance of an Eagle Scout in 2009.
On March 14, 1862, Kady McKenzie Brownell became known as the “Heroine of the Battle of New Bern.”
Kady McKenzie was born in a tent on a battlefield in Caffaria, South Africa, the daughter of a French mother who died shortly after giving birth. Her father, Colonel George Southwell, a Scotsman, gave Kady to the McKenzie family to raise. They immigrated with her to Providence, Rhode Island where she worked in a weaving mill. She met and fell in love with Robert Brownell, who she would later marry, but who was married at the time to someone else.
When the Civil War broke out, Robert enlisted in the 1st Rhode Island Regiment, Company H. Kady wanted to accompany him but Robert would not agree to it. Kady then appealed to Governor Sprague of Rhode Island who appointed her “honorary” color bearer. Kady McKenzie thus enrolled as Daughter of the Regiment in the 1st Regiment Rhode Island Detached Militia commanded by Colonel Ambrose Burnside. Kady was only nineteen years old, but she accompanied the troops, carried the flag, and was wounded at the first Battle of Bull Run. Enlistments at that time were only for three months, and the regiment was honorably discharged on August 1, 1861. On October 17, 1861, Robert Brownell Jr. enlisted as First Sergeant, Company A, Fifth Regiment, Rhode Island Heavy Artillery and Kady once again accompanied him as Daughter of the Regiment.
The Fifth Rhode Island Regiment was part of Burnside’s expedition to Eastern Carolina, and on March 14, 1862, Kady found herself on the battlefield in New Bern. It had rained and the area was blanketed in fog, making it difficult to distinguish one unit from another. According to Captain Jonathan M. Wheeler, Commander of Company A, “a report came that the rebels had flanked us, and were moving up a ravine in our rear, and on looking back saw a regiment clothed in gray overcoats and slouched hats. The command had been given to face by the rear flank when Kady rushed forward and cried out, ‘Don’t fire; they are our men.’” She frantically waved the flag, and by so doing, helped to prevent many soldiers from being killed by friendly fire.
Robert Brownell was wounded and Kady rushed to his aid. She continued to nurse Robert and other wounded soldiers until Robert’s discharge several weeks later when they both returned North. After his divorce, Robert and Kady were married and resided at the New York State Women’s Relief Corps Home in Oxford, New York. In 1882 Kady Brownell applied for and received a pension in 1884 due to her wound at the First Battle of Bull Run. This was by a Special Act of the United States Congress and she received $8 per month. It was said that Kady was the only woman to ever receive discharge papers from the Union Army.
Kady loved to make public appearances and would dress up in a French Zouave uniform, wearing her medals as well as the sword she carried into battle. She was quite popular and participated in the Grand Army of the Republic and made many public appearances at parades and events. Kady died on January 5, 1915 and is buried in Providence, Rhode Island. Kady’s story – and the accounts of others who fought during the Battle of New Bern – can be found on the interpretive panels at New Bern Battlefield Park, 300 Battlefield Trail, just off Taberna Way.
On March 14, 1862, Kady McKenzie Brownell became known as the “Heroine of the Battle of New Bern.”
Kady McKenzie was born in a tent on a battlefield in Caffaria, South Africa, the daughter of a French mother who died shortly after giving birth. Her father, Colonel George Southwell, a Scotsman, gave Kady to the McKenzie family to raise. They immigrated with her to Providence, Rhode Island where she worked in a weaving mill. She met and fell in love with Robert Brownell, who she would later marry, but who was married at the time to someone else.
When the Civil War broke out, Robert enlisted in the 1st Rhode Island Regiment, Company H. Kady wanted to accompany him but Robert would not agree to it. Kady then appealed to Governor Sprague of Rhode Island who appointed her “honorary” color bearer. Kady McKenzie thus enrolled as Daughter of the Regiment in the 1st Regiment Rhode Island Detached Militia commanded by Colonel Ambrose Burnside. Kady was only nineteen years old, but she accompanied the troops, carried the flag, and was wounded at the first Battle of Bull Run. Enlistments at that time were only for three months, and the regiment was honorably discharged on August 1, 1861. On October 17, 1861, Robert Brownell Jr. enlisted as First Sergeant, Company A, Fifth Regiment, Rhode Island Heavy Artillery and Kady once again accompanied him as Daughter of the Regiment.
The Fifth Rhode Island Regiment was part of Burnside’s expedition to Eastern Carolina, and on March 14, 1862, Kady found herself on the battlefield in New Bern. It had rained and the area was blanketed in fog, making it difficult to distinguish one unit from another. According to Captain Jonathan M. Wheeler, Commander of Company A, “a report came that the rebels had flanked us, and were moving up a ravine in our rear, and on looking back saw a regiment clothed in gray overcoats and slouched hats. The command had been given to face by the rear flank when Kady rushed forward and cried out, ‘Don’t fire; they are our men.’” She frantically waved the flag, and by so doing, helped to prevent many soldiers from being killed by friendly fire.
Robert Brownell was wounded and Kady rushed to his aid. She continued to nurse Robert and other wounded soldiers until Robert’s discharge several weeks later when they both returned North. After his divorce, Robert and Kady were married and resided at the New York State Women’s Relief Corps Home in Oxford, New York. In 1882 Kady Brownell applied for and received a pension in 1884 due to her wound at the First Battle of Bull Run. This was by a Special Act of the United States Congress and she received $8 per month. It was said that Kady was the only woman to ever receive discharge papers from the Union Army.
Kady loved to make public appearances and would dress up in a French Zouave uniform, wearing her medals as well as the sword she carried into battle. She was quite popular and participated in the Grand Army of the Republic and made many public appearances at parades and events. Kady died on January 5, 1915 and is buried in Providence, Rhode Island. Kady’s story – and the accounts of others who fought during the Battle of New Bern – can be found on the interpretive panels at New Bern Battlefield Park, 300 Battlefield Trail, just off Taberna Way.
On February 8, 1864 the 35th Regiment of the United States Colored Infantry was organized. This Regiment was formed from the 1st North Carolina Colored Volunteers established in New Bern in 1863.
At the beginning of the Civil War, African Americans were not permitted to serve in the armed forces of the United States. Congress passed both the Confiscation Act and the Militia Act in 1862 which allowed for the freeing of slaves if their owners were fighting against the Union, and allowed President Lincoln to use freed slaves in the armed services. In January 1863 the Emancipation Proclamation, claiming that all slaves residing within the rebellious states would be considered free, helped to spur recruitment of African American Regiments. On May 22, 1863 the US War Department issued General Order Number 143 which established the Bureau of Colored Troops.
William Henry Singleton, a former slave, along with Abraham Galloway, recruited over 1,000 African American escaped slaves in New Bern for the First North Carolina Colored Volunteers. (Singleton later became a sergeant in the 35th USCT). They became part of the North Carolina African American brigade organized and commanded by Brigadier General, Edward A. Wild.
During July 1863, the 1st Regiment NC Volunteers paraded on Academy Green in New Bern and presented their flag to Colonel Wild. The flag was designed by Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe, and the cost was $150 which was raised by the Colored Ladies’ Aid Association of North Carolina in New Bern, under Mary Starkey. The flag was presented to General Wild who then presented it to Colonel James C. Beecher, half-brother of Harriet Beecher Stowe, who commanded the regiment. The success or failure of the 1st NCCV would help to decide if it were feasible or not to raise more African American troops. While the 1st NCCV did not win a major battle for the Union Army, it served with distinction and proved that African Americans could provide a fighting force to assist the Union Army.
After the formation of the 35th USCT in February of 1864, enlistment and training began in New Bern, and the troops headed further south. While in Georgia and South Carolina, they performed garrison duty and acted as laborers, but finally saw combat in Florida at the Battle of Olustee. Though this battle ended with a Union loss and high casualties for both sides, the men of the 35thUSCT fought gallantly and again demonstrated that African Americans were worthy participants in the armed services.
In the last two years of the war, 175 regiments containing 178,000 African American men saw service. In North Carolina, four regiments of over 5,000 soldiers were raised, including the 35th, 36th, and 37th USCT, as well as the 14th US Colored Heavy Artillery. The 35th USCT fought well and earned high praise on the battlefield. During the invasion in NC near Carolina Beach during the winter of 1864-1865, at least nine USCT regiments took place as part of the Union naval and army forces that captured Fort Fisher and forced the surrender of Wilmington.
A marker in honor of the 1st NCCV and subsequently the 35th USCT was dedicated and placed on Academy Green at Hancock and New Street.
A small article appeared in the 13 Jan 1897 Daily Journal (New Bern, Wed. p.2) stating “Notice is hereby given that application will be made to the next General Assembly of the State of North Carolina to change and amend the Charter of the city of New Berne.” At the next meeting in 1897, the name of our city was officially changed to its current spelling, New Bern. But what had been its official name prior and why did it change?
New Bern was founded in 1710 by Baron Christoph von Graffenried of Bern, Switzerland. The Baron named it New Bern in honor of the city of his birth. In 1723, the General Assembly enacted that the place be “Incorporated into a Township, by the Name of Newbern… with all Privileges which ever have belonged to the said town, or shall hereafter be expressed, forever. (Laws of North Carolina, 1723-pg 204 Section XIII).
Although the official name was Newbern, it was not spelled that way on various maps, newspapers, and official documents, which led to much confusion over the years. On June 6, 1891, Henry Gannett, a famous geographer and mapmaker wrote to the City Clerk, William Oliver, and asked him about the true spelling of the name.
“Dear Sir, I find great uncertainty in spelling the name of your city. It is spelled Newbern, Newberne, New Bern, New Berne and Newburn. I take the liberty of appealing to you to inform us as fully as possible what the usage is in the official documents of the city. In case you have documents at hand, I should be glad to know under what name the city is chartered”.
Oliver’s’ response was that “…up until 1862 the official name was spelled Newbern and it had been chartered as such.” Oliver sent Gannett a copy of the “Acts of the General Assembly published in 1793” as proof. Oliver referenced the fact that the town had been captured by Union forces and had been in the hands of Union troops for three years. “The post office, and every office both town and county, the banks, the newspaper, were all in the hands of those who recently settled here. The stamps at the post office at this time were changed from Newbern to New Berne as well as the newspaper and county offices. This change was made by comparative strangers without a scintilla of law or authority.” (State Chronicle, July 23, 1891, p.4) Gannett subsequently settled upon Newbern as the official spelling.
In 1897 local businessman, James Augustus Bryan helped to initiate legislation to officially change the spelling again. The town continued to be referred to as Newberne which Bryan and others blamed upon Union soldiers for adding an “e” at the end. This led to the January 1893 notice in the paper that there was to be an application to change or amend the charter of the city of New Berne. This resulted in the General Assembly of NC action in February 1897 to establish that the “corporation heretofore existing as the city of Newbern shall hereafter be known and designated as the city of New Bern, and all laws in conflict with the above are hereby repealed.” Now you know when our city officially became New Bern.
Sneden, Robert Knox. [Plan of the Battle of Newberne ! North Carolina: fought March 14th 1862]. [to 1865, 1862] Map. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/gvhs01.vhs00079/. (Accessed December 12, 2017.)
December 1, 1922 started out in anticipatory fashion as over 400 people from New Bern left for Raleigh to attend the Eastern Carolina Football Championship between New Bern and Sanford. By the end of the day, New Bern would suffer from the worst fire in North Carolina history, leaving 3,200 — one fourth of the population — homeless, a thousand buildings destroyed, hundreds of jobs lost and an area of forty blocks totally destroyed at an estimated loss of two and a half million dollars. It would hence forth be known as “The Great Fire.”
The morning of December 1 was cold and overcast with gale-like winds. At 8:00 a.m. a fire broke out at the Rowland Lumber Company, the largest sawmill in North Carolina. Every fireman and piece of equipment was sent to fight the blaze, but they had difficulty in controlling the flames sweeping through the dry lumber in the yard and were hampered by insufficient manpower due to the number of people who had left town for the game. At 10:45 a.m. a fire started in the chimney of a small house on Kilmarnock Street near the Five Point intersection in New Bern. By the time the firefighters responded, three more houses were burning out of control. The 70 miles per hour winds moved east towards the Neuse River. As the fire spread rapidly down to George Street the wind then spread the fire North and West. By midday, Fire Chief James K. Bryan, put out frantic calls to neighboring towns for help, and fearing that the entire town would be destroyed, decided to use dynamite to level the houses in the path of the inferno and to create a firebreak. Shortly before dusk, the wind shifted and died down and the fire was finally brought under control. Unbelievably, there was only one casualty, an elderly African American woman who was too crippled to escape her home.
That night, fire victims sought refuge in Cedar Grove and Greenwood Cemeteries and many had escaped with only the clothes on their back. Fort Bragg responded to a call for help by sending eight freight cars loaded with tents, cots, mattresses, and other needed equipment and officers and men arrived to oversee the erection of the tents which later became known as “Tent City.” Cots, blankets and clothing were sent by the Navy base at Norfolk and nearby towns immediately began collecting used clothing and money to help the homeless. The Red Cross moved in and was placed in full charge of the relief effort. West Street School, which miraculously escaped the fire, was opened to feed thousands of meals for the African Americans who were homeless. Local businesses and townspeople assisted in these endeavors.
The City decided to condemn about twenty acres of the burned area to widen and straighten the streets, to extend Cedar Grove Cemetery and to create a city park. There was much protest over this decision because most of the houses that had stood in the condemned area were owned by the African American families who had resided there. Today, Kafer Park, the cemetery extension, and the George Street Senior Center building are on this property.
In case you wanted to know, New Bern won the championship game, 6-0.
Photo of the Great Fire of 1922 Courtesy of the New Bern Fire Museum
On November 26, 1787, in New Bern, a judicial milestone was set in the landmark case of Bayard vs. Singleton. The case is significant not just for the judicial precedent set in this case, but also for the number of attorneys and judges who played major roles in the history and development of our new nation.
Samuel Cornell was a wealthy merchant in New Bern and one of the richest men in the state. During the Revolutionary War, he remained loyal to the King. He refused to sign an oath of allegiance to the revolutionary cause and fled to England in August of 1775. He returned in 1777 to his family’s home in New York. Meanwhile, the NC General Assembly confiscated his land and home and sold it to help finance the war. A local New Bern merchant, Spyers Singleton, purchased Cornell’s home. The Cornell family resided in Flushing, NY where one of his daughters, Elizabeth Cornell, married William Bayard Jr. In 1787, Elizabeth Cornell Bayard returned to New Bern to file a lawsuit against the state to recover the property that had been deeded to her by her father. A lawsuit was filed on her behalf by her attorney Samuel Johnston (who later became Governor of NC). William R. Davie (who also became Governor and was known as the “Father” of the University of N.C.) assisted Johnston. James Iredell, a legal scholar, was also retained by Mrs. Bayard and he later became a US Supreme Court Justice. Spyers Singleton, the defendant, hired another future Governor, Abner Nash, as his attorney along with Alfred Moore (who would later serve on the US Supreme Court).
The essence of Bayard’s argument was that North Carolina’s Constitution of 1776 guaranteed a citizen the right to a jury trial in a case involving the loss of property rights. After the war ended, the 1783 Treaty of Paris stipulated that confiscated property would be returned to its original owners. However, in 1785 the NC legislature barred state courts from hearing lawsuits by former Loyalists trying to recover their property, contrary to the Treaty of Paris. The court, consisting of Judges Samuel Ashe, Samuel Spenser and John Williams heard the case but delayed a decision, hoping that either a settlement would be reached or the legislature would repeal the confiscation laws. After the parties could not come to an agreement, the court concluded that it could not enforce the 1785 NC statute as it was inconsistent with the Constitution. The decision was highly controversial. Richard Dobbs Spaight, one of the signers of the US Constitution, questioned whether the court had a right to overturn legislation as unconstitutional.
The court eventually ruled against Bayard, citing the fact that when her father left for England, he did not return before the General Assembly confiscated his lands. Therefore, he was not actually a citizen of the US. The court ruled that Mrs. Bayard, as a citizen in 1787 had a right to a trial, but Cornell did not have the right to deed his property to her in 1777 in the first place. As possibly the first legal decision in the new United States in which a court nullified a law because it was found to be unconstitutional, this ruling was an early example of the system of checks and balances vital to the new American democracy. Bayard vs. Singleton served as a precedent and precursor to Marbury vs. Madison, the 1803 US Supreme Court decision that established judicial review.
On October 21, 1945, New Bern born architect, Herbert Woodley Simpson died. He was one of only a few architects practicing in New Bern and eastern North Carolina during the 1890’s to 1920’s. Simpson is credited with the design of almost every major structure built in New Bern in the first two decades of the 20th century. He was a versatile designer, but excelled in the Queen Anne style as well as the neoclassical revival style.
Herbert Woodley Simpson was the son of John Archibald Simpson and Mary Higgins Simpson. His father was a New Bern builder, carpenter, casket maker and undertaker. As was the practice then, Simpson studied architecture with W. Claude Frederick in Baltimore, Maryland from 1888 to 1890. After finishing his studies, he worked with Beaver & Offmeister, Architects in Knoxville, Tennessee.
Simpson returned to New Bern in 1891, where he began to establish himself as an architect. His first known project is believed to be the Queen Anne style John R.B. Carraway House, which was the lifelong home of New Bern historian Gertrude Carraway. Simpson followed this with the Queen Anne style Christ Church Rectory and other similar residences. He planned several religious buildings including Centenary Methodist Church (1904) in collaboration with New York architect Charles Granville Jones, St. Cyprian’s Episcopal Church (1910-1912), the First Church of Christ, Scientist (1907) and Temple Chester B’nai Sholem(1908). His principal civic building was the Carteret County Courthouse (1907) in Beaufort.
Simpson was a prolific designer and produced plans in all different styles.
Among his early clients was the local Blades family, lumber magnates. Lumber industries in New Bern flourished during this period and many wanted to build large and impressive homes and buildings. The William B. Blades House (1903), still standing, is a quintessential Colonial Revival home with neoclassical columns and pediments, as well as beautiful interior woodwork. Simpson’s most spectacular residence was the James B. Blades House (1913), a granite and yellow brick mansion that later became the Queen Anne Hotel (no longer standing). In addition to new homes in this style, Simpson also assisted clients who wanted older houses remade in this new style. The Coor-Bishop House, and the J.A. Jones Residence were transformed into columned Southern Colonial mansions.
Simpson married Nettie Tolson on April 21, 1897 and they had two children, John Arch Simpson and Helen Elizabeth Simpson. Simpson left New Bern in 1914 for Norfolk, Virginia, where he continued his practice. In the 1920’s, John Arch Simpson joined his father’s practice which became Herbert W. Simpson and Son until his father’s death in 1945. Herbert Woodley Simpson was buried in Cedar Grove Cemetery in New Bern with full Masonic rites.
Some other notable homes in New Bern designed by Simpson not previously noted include the C.S. Hollister House, C. Foy House, Dunn Building, Gaston Hotel (remodeling) H.B. Marks house, Larry Moore Home, Pepsi Cola Factory, R. Duval Jones home, St. John’s Masonic Lodge (enlargement and remodeling), Walter Duffy Home, and the Athens Theatre (1911).
