On a cold day in early January 1864, Robert E. Lee wrote to Confederate president Jefferson Davis "The time is at hand when, if an attempt can be made to capture the enemy's forces at New Berne, it should be done." Over the next few months, Lee's dispatch would precipitate a momentous series of events as the Confederates, threatened by a supply crisis and an emerging peace movement, sought to seize Federal bases in eastern North Carolina. This book tells the story of these operations—the late war Confederate resurgence in the Old North State. Using rail lines to rapidly consolidate their forces, the Confederates would attack the main Federal position at New Bern in February, raid the northeastern counties in March, hit the Union garrisons at Plymouth and Washington in late April, and conclude with another attempt at New Bern in early May. The expeditions would involve joint-service operations, as the Confederates looked to support their attacks with powerful, homegrown ironclad gunboats. These offensives in early 1864 would witness the failures and successes of southern commanders including George Pickett, James Cooke, and a young, aggressive North Carolinian named Robert Hoke. Likewise they would challenge the leadership of Union army and naval officers such as Benjamin Butler, John Peck, and Charles Flusser. Newsome does not neglect the broader context, revealing how these military events related to a contested gubernatorial election; the social transformations in the state brought on by the war; the execution of Union prisoners at Kinston; and the activities of North Carolina Unionists. Lee's January proposal triggered one of the last successful Confederate offensives. The Fight for the Old North State captures the full scope, as well as the dramatic details of this struggle for North Carolina.

The North Carolina Civil War Atlas is a comprehensive full-color study of the impact of the war on the Tar Heel State, incorporating 97 original maps. The only state-level atlas of its kind, the book is a sesquicentennial project of the North Carolina Office of Archives and History. The large format (11" x 17") volume highlights every significant military engagement and analyzes the war's social, economic, and political consequences through tables, charts, and text. Manuscripts, election returns, newspapers, census records, and other sources were used to prepare the narrative and compile the tabulated data. From the capture of Hatteras Island and the Burnside Expedition through the fall of Fort Fisher and the Carolinas Campaign of 1865, the state's Civil War history is examined in a new light. Groundbreaking information includes updated casualty statistics, General Sherman's route of march, and the role of U.S. Colored Troops. Historic road networks are based on wartime maps created by engineer Jeremy F. Gilmer matched against the earliest modern road surveys. A variety of primary manuscript map resources were used from the State Archives and the University of North Carolina. Thanks to GIS technology, wartime places and landmarks, identified with their contemporary spellings, are presented in their correct geospatial orientation. Rare photographs complete the package. The North Carolina Civil War Atlas belongs on the shelves of every serious student of the Civil War in general, and the war in North Carolina in particular. This vital reference work will immediately take its rightful place in libraries alongside other North Carolina studies penned by such scholars as John G. Barrett, Mark Bradley, and Chris Fonvielle.

Ninety-nine highly-detailed maps, many spanning a full 17" x 11" page, were created for this landmark study of the impact of the Civil War in the Tar Heel State. Every significant Civil War military engagement in the state is highlighted in this lavishly illustrated, full-color, 200-page, hardbound volume.

Can you call yourself a self-respecting North Carolinian if you don't know that Babe Ruth hit his first home run in the Tar Heel State? That Annie Oakley gave shooting lessons in Pinehurst? That renowned Siamese twins Chang and Eng lived in Surry County? Or that unrepenting bootleggers hid out in Rutherford County? Father-daughter team K. Randell and Caitlin D. Jones think not, and to cure your curiosity, to supply you with clever quips at cocktail parties or to convince your teachers that you really have studied, they have gathered a wonderful collection of stories originally written by lauded North Carolina historian Dr. H.G. Jones for his long-standing In Light of History series. This revised and updated edition contains ten additional accounts of Tar Heel history, accompanied by archival images from the lifetime collection of Dr. Jones and a map highlighting each story's geographic interest area.

The State of North Carolina was not as quick or eager to secede from the Union as her southern neighbors. However, after the firing on Fort Sumter, South Carolina, and President Lincoln's call for 75,000 troops, the Old North State joined those already fighting for independence. North Carolina contributed and sacrificed more men for the Confederate cause than any other state. The first Confederate soldier killed in the war was a North Carolinian; North Carolina regiments made it farther into Union lines at Gettysburg and Chickamauga; and North Carolinians captured the last Union artillery battery, made the last charge, fired the last volley, and surrendered the last man at Appomattox Court House. North Carolina proudly earned the label: First at Bethel, Farthest at Gettysburg and Chickamauga, Last at Appomattox. Confederate Military History of North Carolina recounts the contribution and sacrifice of North Carolinians made while serving in the Army of North Virginia and the great battles in which it participated-Big Bethel, 1st and 2nd Manassas, The Peninsula Campaign, Seven Days battles, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Bristoe Station, Wilderness, Spotsylvania, Early's Valley Campaign, Petersburg, Appomattox, and many more. North Carolinians gallantly protected their state throughout the war, from Burnside's Expedition, to the battles of Fort Fisher and Kinston, and Sherman's Carolinas Campaign, ending with the battles of Averasboro and Bentonville. A few Tar Heel regiments fought in the West, seeing action at Murfreesboro, Chickamauga, Lookout Mountain, and the Atlanta Campaign.