Grimsley Baptist Church
Rest, Feed, and Forage
(Preface): 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. The infantry feinted toward Kinston and retreated to New Bern. Potter raided Greenville, then sent part of his cavalry to Rocky Mount and occupied Tarboro. The raiders damaged or destroyed bridges, trains, munitions, and mills before returning to New Bern on July 23, but the Confederates restored rail service by Aug. 1.
On July 21, 1863, Gen. Edward E. Potter halted his cavalrymen near here to rest, feed their horses, and forage for supplies. The Federals were returning to New Bern after raiding Greenville on July 19 and Rocky Mount and Tarboro on July 20. They destroyed a train and a cotton mill at Rocky Mount and two steamboats and a partially built gunboat at Tarboro, along with stockpiles of army supplies. On the evening of July 20, after they eluded a trap set by elements of the 7th Confederate Cavalry near Falkland in Pitt County, the Federals entered Greene County at Fieldsboro on the old Otter Creek Church Road, about two miles east of present day Walstonburg. They arrived at Grimsley Church, visible to your right front, at dawn. Potter's men confiscated two horses from William P. Grimsley, a Unionist whose plantation home still stands near here. After he explained his "position" to Potter, however, he was given six horses in exchange.
Scattered cavalry units, including two companies of the 7th Confederate Cavalry and three companies of the 62nd Georgia, skirmished with the Federals in Greene County throughout the day. A Union captain was wounded and Sgt. Robert Striebeck of the 1st North Carolina Union Volunteers was captured and later died in a Confederate prison. Confederate casualties, if any, are not known. Learning from his scouts that more Confederates were approaching, Potter ordered his troops to cross the bridge over Little Contentnea Creek at Scuffleton at dusk on July 21.
(Lower Left Sidebar): Grimsley Baptist Church was organized in 1752. The present church building, remodeled in 1951, incorporates the structure that stood here in 1863. Confederates as well as Federal troops occupied this area at times during the war.
Marker is at the intersection of U.S. 258 and County Route 903, on the right when traveling north on U.S. 258.
Courtesy hmdb.org
