The withdrawing Union forces had no idea that two North Carolina regiments were forming to attack them. The 51st and 52nd NC regiments came streaming out of the treeline to an open field. As they came, they gave the famed rebel yell, alerting the Federals.
According to Randy Sauls, "They were mowed down at that point. That's where most of the casualties of the in this battle occurred."
Sauls made his first trip to the site in the 1990s, when it was a horse farm. The site was in bad shape, "but had been left alone. It had not been developed, but it hadn't been lost either." With county government approval and the group he founded, Sauls began working to restore the battlefield. And, they have admirably succeeded.
I went out to it, but was the only one there and didn't go beyond the visitors' parking lot. You never know who you might run into there and I mean people of a bad sort.
According to Sauls: "It is particularly interesting to be out here by yourself-- to be in the woods walking the trail out there-- and when it's quiet, you kind of catch the moment a little bit." he says that every once in awhile, a train even comes down the track, which really sets the scene.
"You know, the Battle of Goldsborough Bridge, it was a wonderful tactical success for the Union, but strategically, it ended up having very little value...because Fredericksburg was a disaster.."
A Little-Known Battle getting Its Due. --Old Secesh
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