{"nrhp_refnum":"01001129","name":"New Bern Battlefield Site","other_names":[],"category":"site","location":{"address":"US 70 E., approx. 4.5 mi. SE of New Bern","address_restricted":false,"city":"New Bern","county":"Craven County","state":"NC","lat":35.045024229000035,"lon":-77.01780780155411,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2001-10-19","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Military"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A Civil War battlefield site in the southern part of Craven County, about 4.5 miles southeast of New Bern, North Carolina, made up of two surviving areas of Confederate earthworks on either side of US 70, where the Battle of New Bern was fought on March 14, 1862.","why_significant":"The Battle of New Bern was a key engagement in Burnside's 1862 North Carolina Campaign, the first major Union amphibious operation of the war. The Union victory gave the army a port and rail center it held for the rest of the war. The site is nominated under Criterion A for statewide significance in military history, and the surviving earthworks show how the battle unfolded.","narrative":"Along US 70 southeast of New Bern, two surviving pieces of a Confederate defensive line mark the ground where the Battle of New Bern was fought on March 14, 1862. East of the highway, about 1,500 feet of infantry trench remains in woods between a fairgrounds and a 1960s subdivision. West of the highway, a 98-acre tract holds redans along a ridge above Bullen's Branch, an earthwork trench near the railroad, and the remains of Wood's Brickyard. The brickyard was the weak point in the line, held by inexperienced militia, and Union troops broke through there before noon. The fight formed part of Burnside's 1862 North Carolina Campaign, the first major Union amphibious operation of the war. Victory gave Union forces a port and rail center they kept to the war's end. Development has fragmented the battlefield, but the remaining earthworks and terrain still show how the defenders were positioned and why the line failed.","period_of_significance":"March 14, 1862","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":["A"],"status_note":"Fragmented by commercial and residential development; two discontiguous areas retain integrity, and the earthworks lie in wooded, undeveloped tracts.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:57:52.804023-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/82/7197/47719782/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/01001129.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/01001129/c6cf58e046-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/01001129/c6cf58e046-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Tradewinds","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:New_Bern_Battlefield.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Tradewinds</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:New_Bern_Battlefield.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47719782","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Bern_Battlefield_Site","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q18154964"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/craven-county/new-bern-battlefield-site-01001129/"}