Late in 1862, Union Gen. John G. Foster’s well-entrenched garrison at New Bern made several incursions into the countryside. On December 11, Foster led a raid from New Bern to burn the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad bridge over the Neuse River at Goldsboro and to demonstrate in support of Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside’s attack at Fredericksburg, Virginia, with a force of 10,000 infantry, 650 cavalry, and 40 cannons. After capturing Kinston on December 14, 1862, Foster marched to Whitehall and fought an engagement there on the morning of December 16. He also sent Maj. Jeptha Garrard with 500 cavalrymen of the 23rd New York Artillery to strike the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad station at Mount Olive and destroy the depot and as much of the railroad as possible. Reaching Mount Olive about 3:00 p.m., Garrard found the ticket agent selling tickets, passengers lingering at the station, mail on the platform, and a few paroled prisoners awaiting transport to Wilmington. Garrard and his men arrested stationmaster Lemuel W. Kornegay and the bystanders, cut the telegraph wires, sent two companies seven miles south to destroy track in several places, burn rail ties to bend the rails, and burn the trestle and bridge over Goshen Swamp near Faison, and sent another company nearly four miles toward Goldsboro to ambush the mail train and fire three artillery shells into it as it backed away. Before leaving Mount Olive about 8:00 p.m. to rejoin Foster’s main force at Whitehall, Garrard burned the station. At the time of the raid, Mount Olive had fewer than 100 residents, a post office, some frame stores and turpentine distilleries, and several houses; although it had been surveyed and platted in 1854, it was not incorporated as a town until March 1, 1870.