Wyse Fork was a Civil War engagement fought in North Carolina, 1865. It was a Union victory.
Schofield planned to advance inland from Wilmington in February, at the same time assigning Maj. Gen. Jacob Cox to direct Union forces from New Berne toward Goldsboro. On March 7, Cox's advance was stopped by Hoke's and Hagood's divisions under Gen. Braxton Bragg's command at Southwest Creek below Kinston. On the 8th, the Confederates attempted to seize the initiative by attacking the Union flanks. After initial success, the Confederate attacks stalled because of faulty communications. On March 9, the Union forces were reinforced and beat back Bragg's renewed attacks on the 10th after heavy fighting. Bragg withdrew across the Neuse River and was unable to prevent the fall of Kinston on March 14.
The Carolinas campaign of the Civil War saw Union forces prevail at the clash known as the Battle of Wyse Fork, alternatively called the Battle of Kinston.
By late February 1865, Union forces under Maj. Gen. John M. Schofield had captured the coastal port of Wilmington. From there, orders called for Schofield to push his troops inland and rendezvous with Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman's command at Goldsboro, North Carolina. The plan called for three separate Union armies to converge on that point and confront a Confederate force being assembled under General Joseph E. Johnston.
To carry this out, Schofield led the men of Alfred Terry's Expeditionary Corps northward out of Wilmington. Meanwhile, Maj. Gen. Jacob D. Cox took his division from the XXIII Corps and traveled by sea along the coast, coming ashore at New Bern, North Carolina.
Once at New Bern, Cox's command grew to three divisions and was reorganized into a Provisional Corps under his leadership. As they advanced toward Goldsboro, these troops set about restoring the railroad line, which would serve as a vital supply channel for Sherman's larger army group. Johnston's main force remained too distant to threaten Schofield's separated columns. General Braxton Bragg's troops, however, having withdrawn from Wilmington, were positioned close enough to strike. Bragg subsequently launched an attack on Cox's men near Kinston.
East of Kinston on March 7, Federal troops advancing under Cox ran into Bragg's dug-in men posted along Southwest Creek. The spot Bragg had chosen did more than block Cox's route forward; it also endangered an important crossroads along with the New Bern-Goldsboro Railroad. Recognizing what was at stake, Cox pushed two divisions ahead, sending Brig. Gen. Innis N. Palmer to guard the rail line while Maj. Gen. Samuel P. Carter covered the roads.
Bragg's ranks swelled with the arrival of seasoned troops from the Army of Tennessee along with the North Carolina Junior Reserves, and General D.H. Hill took overall command of the combined force. With these fresh numbers behind him, Bragg shifted to attacking, throwing a division led by Robert Hoke, a North Carolina native, against the Union left. The strike landed on a New England brigade within Carter's division, and the 15th Connecticut Volunteer Infantry was taken prisoner in its entirety. Hill pushed forward alongside the Junior Reserves, but the young soldiers lost their nerve and would go no farther, so Hill abandoned them and continued on with his veteran troops, striking and overwhelming the Union brigade in front of him.
For a moment it looked as though the Union flank might collapse entirely, but Bragg halted Hill's momentum, redirecting him far north to answer what seemed like a Federal threat there. By the time Hill's men reached the spot, no Union troops remained to be found. Meanwhile Cox, who had stepped away from the front, came back and brought up his reserve division, led by Maj. Gen. Thomas H. Ruger, to close the gap that had opened between Palmer and Carter.
Several days of skirmishing followed before Hoke made a second attempt on the Union left, this time on March 10. By then the Federal line had been reinforced heavily with artillery, and Hoke's assault was thrown back within the hour. Hill then turned his attention to the Union center, but once again the Federal guns carried the day and the attack failed. With the rest of the Federal XXIII Corps, freshly arrived in New Bern from Tennessee, now advancing toward Kinston, Bragg found himself outnumbered by five Union divisions and chose to pull back.
This engagement carried several other designations. Some accounts referred to it as the Battle of Wyse's Fork, while others used Battle of Wise's Forks. It has also appeared under the names Battle of Wilcox's Bridge and Battle of Kelly's Mill Pond. In addition, the fight was sometimes labeled the Second Battle of Kinston or the Second Battle of Southwest Creek.
Cox's advance was stalled by Bragg only for a moment, not truly halted. Schofield's command grew to two complete corps, and the Army of the Ohio was formed from these units. Having just broken Johnston's forces at Bentonville, Sherman's armies met up with Schofield's men at Goldsboro on March 23. With three Union armies now bearing down on him, Johnston pulled back northward, and on April 26 he laid down his arms to Sherman.
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