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Stanley County, North
Carolina, where John Poplin lived, was not itching to go to war in
1861. The county first voted against secession. When the decision
to leave the Union was finally made, though, six companies of
local men volunteered to fight for the Confederates. John
Poplin served in the 42nd North Carolina Infantry, Company C. His
son, John Jr., served in the same unit, and was killed in a battle to overtake Newport Barracks in 1864. John was captured in the
Battle of Wyse's and taken to an unidentified Union POW camp where he was relieved of
the $5 he had in his pocket and was given a blanket and a pair of shoes.
| The Kinston-built ironclad, CSS Neuse, was completed
shortly after John Taylor Wood’s expedition to New Bern. Confederates hoped
that the ironclad might help recapture the old colonial capital. On its
voyage downriver, the Neuse ran aground in a shallow portion of the
river and was not freed until a month later. By then, all operations in
eastern North Carolina had ceased because army units had been recalled to
Virginia to assist in the defense of Richmond. The Neuse
waited ten months to be called into service--this time to cover the
evacuation of Kinston following the
Battle of Wyse Fork in March 1865. The ironclad was taken downriver. Its cannons
bombarded the Union Army while Confederate troops abandoned the town. Once
the evacuation was complete, the Neuse was scuttled to prevent
captureby the yankee forces.
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Extremely Rare Perfect Game
In 1956, Kinston was the site of an extremely rare perfect game of
billiards as
Billard Champion Willie Mosconi
sank 150 balls in a row in one inning against
Jimmy Moore.
[ [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0CEFD9163BF93BA2575AC0A965958260&sec=&
spon=&pagewanted=print Willie Mosconi, 80, Who Ruled The World
of Billiards With Style - New York Times ] ]
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