Kinston Battlefield Park

This site was the center of the Confederates’ final line of defense during the December 13-14, 1862 Battle of Kinston, fought as Union General John G. Foster’s division moved from New Bern to Goldsboro to destroy the Wilmington-Weldon Railroad Bridge, a major supply route to General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia, and also planned to destroy the CSS Neuse gunboat under construction at White Hall (Seven Springs). The Union advance through Lenoir County was stubbornly contested by Confederate General Nathan G. “Shanks” Evans’s brigade, first at Southwest Creek, about four miles south on December 13th, and then here along the line defending Kinston on December 14th. Although greatly outnumbered, about 2,000 versus about 12,000, the Confederates resisted more strongly than expected but were overrun and withdrew north of the Neuse River toward Goldsboro on December 14th. Foster occupied Kinston overnight on the 14th and continued toward Goldsboro on December 15th by the River Road south of the Neuse River. Battle reports and diaries indicate that a small, unpainted wooden church known as Harriet’s Chapel stood in this area, served as a focal point for both Union and Confederate forces, formed part of the Confederate defensive position, was heavily damaged in the fighting, and was used as a field hospital afterward. A section of Confederate earthworks nearby leads to the site of Starr’s Battery, a Confederate artillery position.

North Carolina · United States