This week in the Civil War: March 8, 1865

Renewed fighting in North Carolina

Fighting flared anew in North Carolina as Union forces sought to move inland from Wilmington, captured weeks earlier when the federal forces closed down the last major Atlantic seaport for the Confederacy. A Union force advancing under the command of Maj. Gen. John Schofield was halted by two Confederate divisions near Kinston, North Carolina, on March 7, 1865. The following day a Confederate attempt at an assault on the Union flanks began fiercely, but then broke down. By March 9, 1865, Union forces were able to repel further Confederate attacks and force the Southern divisions to retreat over days of hard fighting. Kinston, North Carolina, would fall later that week to the Union, 150 years ago in the Civil War.