After leaving White Hall on the 16th Foster’s column camped that night 8 miles from the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad bridge located 3 miles south of Goldsborough. He and his men were on the road early the following morning. Foster had designed two feints on the 17th to distract the Confederates from his main objective. Major Charles Fitz Simmons with 2 companies of cavalry (Company B- Captain Moschell, Company C- Lieutenant Mayes) rode toward Dudley Station and Everettsville where they scattered a small force of Confederates and burned 2 trestle-work culverts, destroyed a train of 4 railroad cars, a depot, a water station and a store house before returning to the main column. For the second feint Major Jeptha Garrard and 4 companies of the 3rd NY Cavalry and one section of artillery (4 guns from Ransom’s Battery 23rd NY Independent Artillery) were sent to destroy Thompson’s Bridge over the Neuse River 9 miles below Goldsborough. When they got there they found a regiment of Confederate infantry with four guns on the opposite side and the bridge already burned. According to Foster’s report he sent reinforcements that included the 43rd MA under Colonel Holbrook and 4 guns from Angel’s Battery of the 3rd NY Artillery in order to make the feint more complete and to further distract the enemy. The fight there lasted an hour.

As Foster had been advancing across North Carolina Major General Gustavus Smith, the Commander of the Department of North Carolina and Southern Virginia, who at the start of the raid was in Petersburg, had been desperately trying to find reinforcements for General Evans. Evans first requested them on the 13th while at Kinston. Smith wired back that three regiments would be sent, one that night from Petersburg, another from Petersburg the following morning, and a third from the Blackwater region of Virginia. By 3:00 PM on the 15th, as Foster was approaching White Hall, Smith arrived by train to Goldsborough. From there he wired Confederate Secretary of War James Seddon that he had ordered 3 regiments from Daniel’s Brigade (Mississippi) and 2 batteries from Richmond in addition to the previous regiments. In that wire he states that Beauregard was to send 5000 men and three batteries from his department. At 7:00 AM on the 16th General French arrived with a regiment from Petersburg. The Confederates would need more help than that but would they arrive in time.

As the Federal main column advanced toward Goldsborough on the road from Whitehall Colonel Lee’s Brigade was in the lead. The 9th NJ and 17th MA (Companies C and F under Captain Fuller) were acting as skirmishers under the command of Colonel Heckman. Their orders were to strike the railroad and proceed directly up the tracks to the bridge and burn it. The 17th MA were to the left of the Whitehall Road and the 9th NJ to the right. As they approached the railroad there was a small body of Confederates on a nearby hill. Riggs’ Battery H of the 3rd NY Artillery opened on them and they dispersed, see map below from the Goldsborough Battlefield Park kiosk.

When the skirmishers reached the railroad one of the Massachusetts companies was left where the county road crossed the railroad before the remainder headed north for the bridge. Behind them the 26th and 27th MA were deployed on the left of the Whitehall Road and the 3rd MA and 46th MA on the right. The 5th MA was in reserve. As the main column emerged from the woods Colonel Lee could see the skirmishers had reached and were moving up the railroad. The 27th MA, followed by the 25th MA, and then the 3rd MA, were sent forward to support the skirmishers to the right of the railroad. The 5th MA formed on the left in the woods commanding a road running down from a mill on the other side of the railroad. Battery B of the 3rd NY Artillery was positioned on the right close to the railroad. Batteries E and I of the 3rd NY moved forward under Major TJ Kennedy.

On the Confederate side Brigadier General Thomas Clingman had arrived in Goldsborough the day before on the 16th with only the 8th NC. He proceeded with his men south to the point where the White Hall Road crossed the railroad, the direction from which he expected the Federals to arrive, which was 1.5 miles below the bridge (see above map for First Confederate Position). During the day the 51st NC under Lieutenant Colonel William Allen reached Goldsborough, followed by the 52nd NC from Pettigrew’s Brigade commanded by Colonel J.K. Marshall later that evening. On the morning of the 17th, now with 3 regiments at his disposal, Clingman returned to Goldsboro to meet with Major General Smith. Smith ordered him to conduct a reconnaissance in force with Brigadier General Evans, who would be the overall commander in the field. He wanted them to locate the enemy and determine the size of their force. At this point General Evans joined the meeting. Soon thereafter General Clingman was handed a dispatch, which he read to Generals Smith and Evans. The enemy had been spotted in force and were three miles away from his position. Evans ordered him to fight the enemy and that he and his brigade would join them as soon as possible. Clingman returned and found Foster advancing from the southeast and up the railroad. Two bridges crossed the Neuse River here, the first was the railroad bridge and the second located 0.5 miles upstream to the west was the County Road bridge or wagon bridge. After crossing the river the County Road ran south parallel to the railroad but a half mile to the west. Between the two was a swamp but infantry could pass between from the County Road to the railroad along the riverbank. One and a half miles south of the river the County Road and the railroad were connected by a crossroad that passed through a plantation. Clingman initially placed the 52nd NC in front of the railroad bridge and the 8th NC supported by a section of Starr’s Battery in front of the County Road bridge. He would place Colonel Allen’s 51st NC between the two. Once the Yankees declared their target to be the railroad bridge he moved the 51st NC to the right flank of the 52nd NC (see the map below near the red star illustrating the Second Confederate Position).

As the battle opened the two regiments at the railroad bridge broke and fled along the shoreline west toward the County Road bridge. Clingman rerallied them but they soon broke again and withdrew themselves across the County Road bridge to the north side of the river under heavy fire from superior numbers. Here Clingman placed the 52nd NC to the east of the bridge, the 51st NC to the west, and the 8th NC in reserve. General Evans’ brigade was held up on the railroad awaiting their train to be watered and was delayed in arriving. All Confederate batteries were now on the north side of the river opening on Union troops approaching the bridge. A monitor car was also on the railroad tracks near the bridge firing on the Federals as they advanced.

The 9th NJ and 17th MA were now very close to the bridge as intense artillery fire was taking place in both directions. Volunteers were requested to burn the bridge. One of them Lieutenant Graham of the 23rd NY Battery, acting as an aide-de-camp to Colonel Heckman, was able to fire the bridge around 2:00 PM. The others including Private William Lemons and Lieutenant B.N. Mann were wounded in the process.

After the bridge was destroyed General Foster gave the order to leave the battlefield and started his return to New Bern feeling his mission was accomplished with Colonel Lee’s brigade and Morrison’s battery serving as the rear guard. The Confederates, however, had a different plan. Both General Evans and Clingman had watched the railroad bridge burn from near the County Road bridge. By this time the 61st NC had arrived under Lieutenant Colonel Devane as had Evans’ brigade. General Evans ordered Clingman to counterattack. Clingman crossed all four of his brigades across the County Road bridge. The 51st and 52nd NC would move along the riverbank toward the Union right and took up a position lying in a field about 300 yards from the Union line and were ordered to wait for an attack on on their right to begin their advance. The 61st NC and 8th NC headed south down the County Road and then east on the Plantation Road toward the Union left along with one section of Starr’s battery. The 8th’s right was on the Plantation Road with the 61st NC to their left. Colonel Lee by this time had withdrawn three of his 4 brigades and only the 5th MA and Morrison’s battery were still on the field, see map below from the Goldsborough Battlefield Park kiosk.

At this point the Union and Confederate reports markedly differ. Confederate General Clingman states that by the time all his men were in position and a charge was ordered the Federals were gone. Multiple Union reports, however, describe an attack on the 5th MA and Morrison’s battery that resulted in Colonel Lee’s other 3 regiments returning to the battlefield. Colonel Lee states that multiple regiments emerged from the woods charging Morrison’s battery and the 5th MA. He recalled his other regiments from across the creek placing the 27th MA to the left with the 25th MA in support, the 3rd MA to the right, with the 46th MA in reserve. Belger’s and Rigg’s batteries returned, were placed on the left and shelled the charging Confederates. The recall of the batteries was also included in Foster’s Chief of Artillery Colonel James H. Ledlie’s report. Colonel Lee states the enemy broke and fled. Three other regimental commanders reports state they were recalled to the battlefield including Colonel Charles Heckman from the 9th NJ, Major Josiah Pickett from the 25th MA, and Lieutenant Colonel William Shurtleff from the 46th MA. Lee then was able to withdraw his men in an orderly fashion and leave the field. The Confederates did not pursue. During the raid Foster paroled 496 prisoners and suffered 591 casualties (92 killed, 487 wounded and 12 missing). General Clingman reported 20 men killed, 107 wounded and 18 missing at Goldsborough.

Next- Goldsborough Bridge Battlefield Tour