The Fight for the Old North State: The Civil War in North Carolina, January-May 1864

Modern War Studies

By: Hampton Newsome

Narrated by: J. Rodney Turner

On a cold day in early January 1864, Robert E. Lee wrote to Confederate president Jefferson Davis "The time is at hand when, if an attempt can be made to capture the enemy's forces at New Berne, it should be done." Over the next few months, Lee's dispatch would precipitate a momentous series of events as the Confederates, threatened by a supply crisis and an emerging peace movement, sought to seize Federal bases in eastern North Carolina.

Using rail lines to rapidly consolidate their forces, the Confederates would attack the main Federal position at New Bern in February, raid the northeastern counties in March, hit the Union garrisons at Plymouth and Washington in late April, and conclude with another attempt at New Bern in early May. The expeditions would involve joint-service operations, as the Confederates looked to support their attacks with powerful, homegrown ironclad gunboats. Newsome does not neglect the broader context, revealing how these military events related to a contested gubernatorial election; the social transformations in the state brought on by the war; the execution of Union prisoners at Kinston; and the activities of North Carolina Unionists.

The Fight for the Old North State captures the full scope, as well as the dramatic details of this struggle for North Carolina.

©2019 The University Press of Kansas (P)2019 Tantor Media

The storytelling ability of the author I like the smooth flow of the narrative

I like the cohesiveness of the book. Yes, it was filled with imported military details and the flow of them, action, but the surrounding circumstances were importantly woven into the story. Also, the author, a relation of mine, revealed the importance of a little noted portion of the war between the states.
It was a skillfully woven, well documented story about a part of the war that has been inappropriately ignored or, at least, dealt with too lightly