“Late War and Early Reconstruction in Wayne County”
By John Joyner
EDITOR'S NOTE: The Governor Charles B. Aycock Birthplace, in conjunction with Fort Fisher, Bcntoiwillc
Battlefield, Brunswick Town/Fort Anderson and CSS Neuse/ Caswell Memorial State Historic Sites, are
hosting sci’cral special events to commemorate the 1 40th anniversary of the end of the Civil War. Site manager
Leigh Strickland and historic interpreter John Joyner worked with Southeastern Historic Sites Section chief Rob
Boyette and education specialist Jann Brown to design the program at Aycock Birthplace. They decided to focus
on the late spring of 1865 and how the events of that time shaped the lives of Jive-year-old Charles Aycock and
his family. The program, “From Soldier to Peacekeeper: The Occupation of Goldsboro, May 1865," will be
presented at Aycock Birthplace near Fremont, May 14-15.
More than two thousand people from Wayne County fought in the Civil War, includ¬
ing three sons of Benjamin Aycock (elder brothers of Charles B. Aycock). Francis (Frank)
Marion Aycock, the oldest son, and his brother James Robert enlisted in Company I,
62nd Georgia Cavalry, which later became Company I of the 16th Battalion N.C. Cavalry
(there were three companies from North Carolina in the 62nd Georgia, two from Wayne
County and one from Forsyth). Frank enlisted on May 15, 1862, rose to the rank of
corporal, and was paroled at Goldsboro in 1865. James enlisted as a private on June 10,
1863, and was paroled on April 9, 1865, at Appomattox Courthouse. The third brother,
Jesse Thomas Aycock, enlisted in Company D, 3rd Regiment N.C. Artillery on
October 11, 1864. He fought at Fort Fisher in January 1865, where he was captured
and sent to a prisoner of war camp. He was paroled in June 1865.
Three major convergent rail lines — the Wilmington and Weldon, the Atlantic and
North Carolina, and the North Carolina Railroad — made Goldsboro one of the most
important strategic targets in the Confederacy. This rail junction took on ever-greater
importance as the war progressed. Because the main line that supplied the Army of North¬
ern Virginia ran through the town, Goldsboro was in constant danger from Union attack
after the occupation of New Bern in the spring of 1862.
On January 15, 1865, after the largest naval bombardment in history up to that time,
Fort Fisher, the main fort defending Wilmington, fell to a combined army and naval
assault. Wilmington surrendered on February 22. Union forces under the command of
Maj. Gen. Alfred H. Terry then followed the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad to
Goldsboro. At the same time, the Twenty-third Corps under Maj. Gen. John Schofield
left New Bern to march towards Goldsboro. In early March, Gen. William T. Sherman
entered North Carolina from the south and headed for Goldsboro by way of Fayetteville.
After the battles at Averasboro and Bentonville, the three Union columns converged on
the rail junction. By March 22, there were approximately 110,000 Federal troops stationed
in and around the town. There they were reorganized into three armies under the overall
command of General Sherman. Maj. Gen. Oliver O. Howard commanded the Army of
the Tennessee, Maj. Gen. Henry W. Slocum the Army of Georgia, and Major General
Schofield the Army of the Ohio, which consisted of the Tenth and Twenty-third Corps.
After a few days to rest and re-supply, the three armies moved out of Goldsboro towards
Raleigh, leaving behind a small garrison from the Third Brigade of the First Division of
the Tenth Corps.1 A portion of General Slocum’s army moved through Nahunta (pres¬
ent-day Fremont, locale of the Aycock farm) where they skirmished with a small group of
rebels, among whom were part of the crew of the CSS Nettse.
With the surrender of Gen. Joseph E. Johnston’s Confederate forces at the Bennett
farm near Durham on April 26, the long and complicated task of occupying and restoring
North Carolina to the Union began in earnest. At this time, the Federal government was
debating how to proceed with the restoration of the former Confederate states. Many in
the government thought that the seceded states had forfeited their rights under the law and
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