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Town Center Plan
January 2007
Appendix 2
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.
4
The Fight for the Station
Photo by Ernest Dollar
Lt. Joseph Kittinger
24th New York
Artillery