Search Results for: African American

U.S. Colored Troops Recruiting Poster, Wikipedia At the Vanguard of History by Bernard George One hundred fifty-seven years ago this month, New Bern, North Carolina was the site of an event that would dramatically impact the conduct of the Civil War and provoke a major societal shift across our young nation.  In 1863, the United […]

After the Civil War, as part of a reconstruction plan, William H. Holden was appointed the provisional Governor of North Carolina by President Andrew Johnson.  He was ordered to call for a state convention to restore North Carolina to the Union, and to provide for the election of a new governor, state legislators and US

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

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

On September 1, 1870, Abraham Galloway — slave, abolitionist, spy, recruiter, and political leader — died in Wilmington, NC. He was only thirty-three years old when he succumbed to fever and jaundice. He was born to a white father and a black mother, who was a slave in Smithville, NC. His owner allowed him to

Samuel J. Battle, born January 16, 1883 in New Bern, was recorded as the largest baby born in NC at 16 pounds. He would grow to be 6”3” tall and over 280 pounds. By the time he died in New York City on August 7, 1966, he was a legend in the NYC Police Department.

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