Local historians hope to preserve Wyse Fork Battlefield
Stephen McCall painting named the ‘Surrender of the 15th Connecticut”.
The proposed interstate from La Grange to Dover brings historians, the NC Department of Transportation (NCDOT) and the US Army Corp of Engineers together to balance preserving the history of Wyse Fork Battlefield with infrastructure progress.
A part of the proposed interstate approved in February 2020 would disrupt part of the battlefield. Historian Dennis Harper has expressed his appreciation for the ability to work towards preserving the battlefield.
“It’s exciting to have a seat at the table,” said Harper who will join Colonel (Ret) Wade Sokolsky in the discussion of the proposed interstate. Sokolosky wrote “To Prepare for Sherman’s Coming”: The Battle of Wise’s Forks March 1865.
Artifacts recovered from the Wyse Fork Battlefield have helped tell the story of the battle. The Battle of Wyse Fork was the second largest land battle in North Carolina.
“I just hope that the DOT takes into consideration all the historical aspects of the area they are proposing to install the new highway,” said Matthew Young, Military Historian and Director of the CSS Neuse Civil War Interpretive Center. “If it stays in its presently proposed location, a part of our history that we can never get back, will be destroyed.”
The Wyse Fork Battlefield, under the National Register, is 4069 acres and 56 acres are protected by the Historical Preservation Group. It contains the area of the last mass capture of Union troops during the Civil War.
The proposed Kinston Bypass would be a four-lane, median divided freeway that extends 22 miles from U.S. 70 near La Grange to U.S. 70 near Dover. The historians in the Kinston-Lenoir County, Jones county area, the state of North Carolina, and people from all over the country have come to weigh in on the Wyse Fork Battlefield.
“At the end of the day, we will have a beautiful interstate passing through Lenoir County and we’ll have a beautiful battlefield with as much preserved as possible for future generations,” said Harper.
Information about NC DOT’s Kinston Bypass plans can be found here.
The N.C. Department of Transportation selected Alternative 1SB as the Preferred Alternative, for the future bypass. Photo from NCDOT.
