Harriet's Chapel Battlefield Park

— Battle of Kinston Military Park —

As the fighting surged past the church and the battle moves into Kinston, surgeons of both armies began the task of caring for the wounded. Harriet's Chapel became a refuge and men from both sides found care at the church.

The fighting around Harriet's Chapel was some of the fiercest of the battle. The building served as a defensive position while the battle raged. When Union forces arrived at the church, "Dead bodies lay scattered about the floor and our surgeons immediately appropriated it for a hospital." Soldiers brought the wounded to the church for treatment. Surgeons using bone saws went about the gruesome task of amputation. Others did their best to treat and comfort the men who lay on the floor or on the pews.

The Union troops carried most of their wounded back to New Bern but the wounded Confederates remained in Kinston. The land around Harriet's Chapel became a burial ground for both the Union and Confederate dead. The Federal government removed the Union remains to New Bern National Cemetery in the 1860s. The Confederate dead remained here until 1881, when they were reinterred in Maplewood Cemetery.

(captions)
(lower left) The grounds around Harriet's Chapel must have looked like this after the battle. This hand-tinted photograph was taken at Savage Station, Virginia, in 1862.

(upper right) Union doctors care for Confederate wounded.

(lower right) The Confederate Monument in Maplewood Cemetery marks the resting place of forty-four Confederate soldiers.

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Show me all markers in:  Kinston, NC  |  Lenoir County  |  28504  |  North Carolina  |  United States of America

The Site of Harriet's Chapel
The Confederate Defenses of Kinston
The Night of December 13, 1862
Fighting at Harriet's Chapel
Kinston Battlefield Park
First Battle of Kinston
Wessells' Advance—December 14, 1862
The Center of the Confederate Line
The Action in the Swamp
The Union Artillery

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