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Arts & Culture

Exhibit Opens on Roanoke Island's Role in Civil War

WUNC | By Catherine Brand
Published March 2, 2012 at 6:36 AM EST
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An exhibit about Roanoke Island's role in the Civil War opens at the Outer Banks Visitor Center today. Curator Kaeli Schurr says capturing the island was an important part of the strategy for both the confederacy and the union.

Kaeli Schurr: After a long summer of both sides training troops and devising military strategy, both knew that whoever would be able to control the supply lines would control all of eastern North Carolina. And that led then to being able to disrupt the supply lines from Wilmington up to the Confederate capital in Richmond.

Schurr says after the Union victory in a two-day battle in 1862, Roanoke became home to as many as four thousand blacks who flocked to the area for protection. The exhibit is free to the public and runs through the end of the year.

Arts & CultureCivil WarRoanoke IslandOuter Banks
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Catherine Brand
Fed up with the frigid winters of her native state, Catherine was lured to North Carolina in 2006. She grew up in Wisconsin where she spent much of her time making music and telling stories. Prior to joining WUNC, Catherine hosted All Things Considered and classical music at Wisconsin Public Radio. She got her start hosting late-nights and producing current events talk shows for the station's Ideas Network. She later became a fill-in talk show host and recorded books for WPR's popular daily program, Chapter A Day.
See stories by Catherine Brand
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