The Wilmington (NC) Star-News runs an excellent column every so often called My Reporter.com. People are asked to send in questions about the Wilmington and reporters get on the case and find the information. This would be a good idea for any newspaper.
On Dec. 9, 2009, the question was "Where Was Camp Burgwyn?"
It was a Confederate camp off the Old New Bern Road near today's Princess Place Drive near 23rd Street.
The spelling is often confused between Burgwin and Burgwyn which might be for the Burgwin family of Wilmington, or Captain John Henry King Burgwyn, a Mexican War veteran who died of wounds fighting Indians in New Mexico. His family plantation, The hermitage, was located near Castle Hayne.
Wilmington Civil War expert and UNCW professor Chris Fonvielle believes most likely it was named for Colonel Henry King Burgwyn of Northampton, NC, cousin of the Wilmington Burgwins. He is known as the "Boy Colonel" of the Confederacy and was killed July 1, 1863, at Gettysburg at age 21, while commanding the 26th North Carolina.
He was the youngest colonel in the Army of Northern Virginia and perhaps the whole Confederacy.
Commander of the Wilmington defenses, Gen. William H. C. Whiting, was prone to naming military installations after Confederates who died in battle.
Fort Anderson, down river from Wilmington and part of the Cape Fear River Defenses, was named for Brigadier General George Burgwin Anderson who died of wounds at Antietam.
So, Now You Know the Rest of the Story. --Blockade-R
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