Union Assault on the Bridge
Union General John G. Foster’s prime objective, the wooden covered Wilmington & Weldon railroad bridge, crossed the Neuse River here. After the 51st and 52nd North Carolina regiments were pushed back by the Union advance coming through the fields on the other side of the tracks and from atop the railroad embankment, Union volunteers rushed forward to burn the bridge. Five enlisted men from the 17th Massachusetts and 9th New Jersey, led by two officers, Lieutenant George Graham of the 23rd New York
Artillery and Lieutenant Barnabas Mann of the 17th Massachusetts,
made their way to the bridge. Mann was severely wounded in
the assault, but the others continued forward. One witness described
the assault: “The Confederates on the bridge, and those nearby,
plainly seeing the object upon which these men were bent,
directed their fire upon them with terrible fury.” One of the
volunteers “crept down the embankment into the edge of the
woods and, gathering an armful of dried leaves and light
wood, scampered back....While clambering back up the embankment....was discovered by a party of Confederates under the bridge, who with bitter curses sent their compliments in the shape of a shower of bullets and buckshot, one passing through his canteen
one through his cup, another through his coat, and still another through his old cap. Placing the leaves, with the fuses, upon a beam....they were set on fire and in another minute the interior was enveloped in
flames.” Once the fire was set Foster brought all of his artillery to bear on the bridge, to help in its destruction and to keep the Confederates from extinguishing the flames. In a short time, the bridge was destroyed. Union troops then stacked their muskets and began tearing up the railroad tracks to further damage the Confederate supply line.
Marker is on Old Mt. Olive Highway south of Route 117, on the left when traveling south.
Courtesy hmdb.org
