Murfreesboro

Murfreesboro. Naval Target. , Murfreesboro, a prosperous riverfront commercial center, interested both sides during the war. In June 1862, Confederate Gen. Theophilus H. Holmes ordered cotton destroyed here and in other nearby towns. Eighty Confederate cavalrymen executing his order left Murfreesboro on June 27 and fired on USS gunboat Ellis in the Meherrin River off the Winton road, but retired when the vessel replied with shell, canister and grapeshot., On May 15, 1863, "guerillas" (Confederate home guards) captured U.S. steamers Emily and Arrow in the Currituck Canal and North River. Two Federal vessels and troops sent to recover the steamers anchored at Murfreesboro on May 22. Here, they reported, they "captured, gave to the poor, and destroyed... about 10,000 pounds of bacon, together with a quantity of lard and 15 boxes of 6-pound fixed ammunition.", During Col. Samuel P. Spear's raid on the Weldon railroad bridge on July 26, 1863, Maj. Samuel J. Wheeler's Murfreesboro home guards ambushed the 17th Massachusetts Infantry three miles this side of Winton. The Confederates, outnumbered, were quickly driven back. U.S. Navy Lt. Cmdr. Charles W. Flusser then steamed up to Murfreesboro with three vessels, burned the bridge, and captured a Confederate soldier. , The last action here occurred on April 5, 1865, when Col. Edward V. Sumner led the 1st New York Mounted Rifles into town. He put 70 cotton bales on transport vessels for Norfolk, then drove off nearby North Carolina cavalry., [Sidebar:] , The site of Murfreesboro was settled as early as 1720. William Murfree donated land for the town, which was incorporated in 1787. Murfreesboro thrived as a port during the 18th and 19th centuries, and many of its historic structures date from then and survived the Civil War., [Sidebar:] , According to local tradition, in 1862, when a Federal officer entered Melrose (right), he saw owner Col. James M. Wynns's Masonic apron. The Union officer, also a Mason, ordered that nothing be destroyed.