Diary of Orrin Brown, Goldsboro, North Carolina
Wednesday–Mar. 22nd
We broke up camp about 8 AM and made our way toward the town of Goldsborough N. C. 13 miles I was very unwell today again but I managed to get along for they marched very slow. We marched through the town about 5 PM and went into camp about 1 1/2 miles north of the vilage in an open field. The town is small but beautifully situated but we are to have communication here by railroad Via of Newborn N. C. Capt. Earnest came to the regt. tonight.
Wayne County, North Carolina, was formed in 1787, on the east bank of the Neuse River. When the railroad route fell outside the existing county seat of Waynesborough in the 1840s, a settlement grew up which came to be known as Goldsborough. In 1847, this new town won the vote as county seat.
At the time of the Civil War, Goldsborough, with a population of about 1,500, had become an important railroad junction, connection Wilmington north and Beaufort-New Berne west. The town also served as a regional trading center for large cotton plantations in the area. Confederate Col. S.D. Pool evacuated his troops about 4pm on the 21st, setting fire to cotton stores while the mayor surrendered to the 9th New Jersey Cavalry in the Army of the Ohio under Bvt. Maj. Gen. John Schofield. On the 22nd, a large warehouse and a storehouse burned, with Union soldiers blaming “vindictive citizens” and, I would expect, citizens blaming the soldiers. Schofield offered guard protection of homes for any resident so requesting.
After the war, the name was officially shortened to “Goldsboro”.
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