Kinston, N.C. Ironclads and Iron Skillets

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In 1860, about 1,000 North Carolinians called Kinston home. Over the next five years, this unsuspecting town, the county seat of Lenoir, would be touched by war in almost every conceivable fashion. In early 1862, Camp Campbell and Camp Johnston were established nearby as Confederate training camps, and a bakery in the heart of downtown was converted to produce hardtack in large quantities. A factory here churned out shoes for the troops.

In December 1862, Union Maj. Gen. John G. Foster swept through town as he led 10,000 infantry and cavalry troops from the Federal garrison at New Bern on a raid to the Wilmington & Weldon Railroad near Goldsboro. Foster met resistance in town and the Battle of Kinston raged on December 14, ending with a Confederate retreat and Federal occupation. In March 1865, as part of the Carolinas Campaign, Maj. Gen. Jacob Fox and about 13,000, which had been built and stored in Kinston, was scuttled to avoid capture.