Wessells' Advance—December 14, 1862

Wessells' Advance—December 14, 1862 (HM1C3B)

Location: Kinston, NC 28504 Lenoir County
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Country: United States of America
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N 35° 14.467', W 77° 35.267'

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Inscription

Harriet's Chapel Battlefield Park

— Battle of Kinston Military Park —

Gen. John Gray Foster's long blue line slowly marched north from Southwest Creek toward the Confederate line. The Confederates, behind a formidable line of earthworks protected by a swamp in their front, braced for the Union assault.

Gen. Henry W. Wessells commanded the Union forces on the field. He deployed this forces in line of battle, placing his brigade on the right side of the road and Gen. Thomas Amory' s brigade on the left side. He put his artillery in the road.

At Wessell's command the whole line surged forward. Confederate Gen Nathan Evans planned to hold out as long as possible against the overwhelming number of Union troops before crossing the river into Kinston and burning Jones Bridge behind him.

The Confederate strategy worked for a while. The guns found their mark and held the Union infantry. "The rebel guns opened upon their flank, raking their position. The of these guns was so concentrated and powerful that it cut a perfect path, two rods wide, for some distance through the forest."

A Confederate barrage hit the 103rd Pennsylvania as it advanced deep into the swamp. The Pennsylvanians took cover and returned fire. The volley hit the 85th Pennsylvania, which in the smoke and confusion had moved ahead of Col. Lehmann's regiment.

(captions)
(left) Gen. Henry W. Wessells
(right) Col. Theodore Lehmann
Details
HM NumberHM1C3B
Tags
Placed ByBattle of Kinston Military Park
Marker ConditionNo reports yet
Date Added Friday, October 24th, 2014 at 9:59pm PDT -07:00
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Locationbig map
UTM (WGS84 Datum)18S E 264528 N 3902852
Decimal Degrees35.24111667, -77.58778333
Degrees and Decimal MinutesN 35° 14.467', W 77° 35.267'
Degrees, Minutes and Seconds35° 14' 28.02" N, 77° 35' 16.02" W
Driving DirectionsGoogle Maps
Area Code(s)252
Closest Postal AddressAt or near 1422 Richlands Rd, Kinston NC 28504, US
Alternative Maps Google Maps, MapQuest, Bing Maps, Yahoo Maps, MSR Maps, OpenCycleMap, MyTopo Maps, OpenStreetMap

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