Morrisville Town Center Plan - 2007

Appendix 2

The Fight for the Station

On April 13, 1865, Union cavalry captured Raleigh and fought retreating Confederate horsemen to Morrisville. Arriving at the heights overlooking Morrisville, Federal soldiers saw a train straining to pull several dozen cars of supplies and wounded men away from the depot. Union artillery was ordered forward and began shelling the town in preparation while three cavalry regiments sloshed across Crabtree Creek and prepared to charge. Lt. Joseph Kittinger recorded in his diary, “My pieces were brought forward on a run and we sent the shell in quick succession right in the midst of the retreating Johnnies, scattering them in every direction.” In defense, Confederate soldiers erected barricades around the depot in order to protect the slowmoving train. Realizing the load was too heavy for the engine to pull up the steep grade, the Confederate commander ordered his men uncouple the cars containing the supplies leaving those with the wounded still connected. Just as his men separated the cars, the Federal horsemen bolted toward the small station. The charge came within 100 yards of the train, but the withering Confederate fire broke the attack. With its load lightened, the locomotive picked up steam and climbed the

incline toward Durham’s Station and safety. That night the Federal cavalry enteredMorrisville and occupied several homes. Around midnight on April 14, a lone Confederate officer delivered a request for a cease fire in order to negotiate a surrender. The peace officer that arrived in Morrisvillewould result in the largest surrender of the Civil War two weeks later outside Durham.

Photo by Ernest Dollar

Lt. Joseph Kittinger 24th New York Artillery

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57 │ Town Center Plan

January 2007