Civil War battle re-enactments to be held March 4-5
By News-Argus Staff
Published in News on February 19, 2006 2:00 AM
KINSTON -- Battle re-enactments, military demonstrations, 19th-century music and a reproduction of a Confederate submarine will be some of the highlights of a living history weekend planned for March 4-5 in Kinston.
Battle re-enactments will be held both Saturday and Sunday on U.S. 258 south of Kinston, about a quarter-mile south of its intersection with U.S. 70. The location is the site of an 1862 Civil War battle for the town.
Camps of both Confederate and Union re-enactors will open to the public at 9 a.m. and close at 5 p.m.
A variety of demonstrations, including artillery, cavalry, civilian, infantry, and medical, as well as music and sutlers (vendors who sell original and reproduction items), will begin at 9 a.m. on Saturday. Also on hand will be a full-scale reproduction of the Confederate submarine C.S.S. Hunley, the first working submarine ever used in warfare.
Other highlights of the living history weekend will include a re-enactment of the capture of the 15th Connecticut Regiment by Confederate troops on Saturday and an attack by forces under the command of Gen. Robert Hoke on Sunday.
Sunday's battle will be the first re-enactment of the Battle of Wyse Fork to held near the site of the original battle. The Battle of Wyse Fork, fought in 1865, was the second largest Civil War battle fought in North Carolina.
Admission is $5 per person, with children 12 and under free. Proceeds will go toward the preservation of the two Lenoir County Civil War battlefields.
The event is sponsored by the Historical Preservation Group, the Lenoir County Battlefields Commission and the Kinston Convention and Visitor's Bureau. For more information, visit www.kinstoncivilwar.com or contact Si Lawrence at the Eastern Civil War Office at 919-581-1041, or silawrence@ncmail.net.