Nearly 15,000 men clashed on these fields on December 17, 1862, over the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad bridge spanning the Neuse River. Confederate troops, outnumbered five to one, fought to defend the bridge, a vital link in the Confederate supply chain between the deep South, the port at Wilmington, and Northern Virginia. Union troops, raiding from occupied New Berne and supporting the simultaneous Union offensive at Fredericksburg, Virginia, attacked from the east side of the railroad. After a three-hour fight, Union forces pushed the Confederates back and destroyed the bridge with flames and artillery fire. Later that afternoon, additional Confederate troops arrived to support a counterattack already underway against the Union rear guard as it prepared to leave the field. Two North Carolina regiments and a battalion struck nearby a mile to the south, while two more regiments crossed this field and attacked the Union force across the railroad tracks. The North Carolinians who crossed here were turned back after heavy losses from massed Union artillery and infantry fire. As the sun set, the firing ceased and the battle ended with nearly 250 casualties. Units present or engaged that day came from North Carolina, South Carolina, Mississippi, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island.