On July 18, 1863, Union Gen. Edward E. Potter led infantry and cavalry from New Bern to destroy the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad bridge at Rocky Mount. After the infantry feinted toward Kinston and returned to New Bern, Potter raided Greenville, sent part of his cavalry to Rocky Mount, and occupied Tarboro, damaging or destroying bridges, trains, munitions, and mills before returning to New Bern on July 23, though Confederate forces restored rail service by Aug. 1. On Sunday evening, July 19, Potter led his cavalry through Falkland toward Tarboro and Rocky Mount, and the next day, returning to Pitt County from Tarboro, he encountered 150 Confederate soldiers under Maj. Thomas Claiborne at Otter Creek Bridge, a mile and a half west of here. Claiborne had burned the bridge, placed most of his force on the eastern side of the creek as sharpshooters, and fired prematurely on Potter’s advance with two small mountain howitzers from the 7th Confederate Cavalry, warning Potter of the trap. After an hour’s engagement, Confederate Col. William C. Claiborne arrived with reinforcements, including the four-gun Alabama battery known as the Montgomery True Blues, and the larger guns poured heavy fire into the Union position across the creek. Potter later wrote that he found the Confederates in considerable strength and their position very difficult to carry. Sgt. H.A. Cooley of the 3rd New York Cavalry found a black man who told him of an unguarded ford called Dupree Crossing a short distance upstream. Potter’s force crossed there and marched away on Otter Creek Church Road. Col. Walter Newton, a local militia officer, and his nephew W.B.F. Newton fired on the Federals and then fled into the woods. Potter’s men set Col. Newton’s nearby house on fire, but the slaves put out the blaze. Unaware that Potter had escaped, Col. Claiborne shelled the Union position across Otter Creek into the night, and by the next morning Potter’s force had reached Grimsley’s Church in Greene County.