Battle of Goldsboro re-enactment set
By Bonnie Edwards
Published in News on September 21, 2006 1:49 PM
More than 100 Civil War re-enactors will recreate the Battle of Goldsborough Bridge twice this weekend, at 2 p.m. Saturday and again at 1 p.m. on Sunday at the Waynesborough Historical Village.
Thousands of real soldiers fought in the battle, which raged on Dec. 17, 1862 over control of the vital point in the supply route from the port at Wilmington to the Virginia theater of war.
This is the last year the re-enactment will be held at Historic Waynesborough on U.S. 117. Future re-enactments will be held at the actual site of the battle, where local officials and volunteers are building a park.
Waynesborough will open at 10 a.m. on Saturday, when the re-enactors will open their camps to the public .
At 10:15 a.m. re-enactors will put on an infantry demonstration. A half-hour later, an artillery demonstration will be held.
At 1:15 p.m. the troops will form up. Afterward, Civil War historian Jeff Bockert will speak at the park's visitor's center.
At 2 p.m. the battle re-enactment will begin.
At 4:30 p.m. the camps will close to the public. The park's gates will close at 5 p.m.
Sunday's schedule includes a 10 a.m. Friends' Meeting in the Bethel House, followed by a joint worship service held by two re-enactor pastors.
At 12:45 p.m. the troops will reform for a second battle that will start at 1 p.m.
Skirmishing will take place in a field behind the village, near the Neuse River.
Parking will be provided for a $5 donation. Ten re-enactment groups and four vendors, known as "sutlers" in the 19th-century, are expected to be present. For more modern fare, there will be food provided by Black Jack Church and Levi's Soul Cafe with hot dogs and drinks on sale at the village's country store.
Explorer Scouts with Troop 209 will help with traffic control.
A local company is providing two flat bed trailers, one for media and the other for people who have disabilities.
Sign language interpreter Michelle Teague will be on hand to interpret Bockert's explanations of the battle prior to each re-enactment.
The Army National Guard's 30th Brigade Combat Team will provide about 40 uniformed volunteers and a "water buffalo," a 400-gallon container filled with iced water, and two tents for shade.
The team's volunteers are going to be getting more involved in community events, said Major William Richards, who is the administrative officer for the 30th on weekdays and executive officer on weekends. The 30th can trace its roots back to the Old Hickory Division, the most decorated National Guard division in World War I. Some of the units in the 30th have links back to the 11th North Carolina Infantry Regiment that served in the Civil War.
Goldsboro's armory is a support unit. This weekend the volunteers from the armory will be supporting the re-enactment mission.
"I'm pushing community involvement real hard," said Richards, a history buff who saw volunteers at Waynesborough outside working one day. He walked across the highway to find out what was going on and decided to help out.