BACKROADS • JULY 2022
Page 12
Warren County NJ Tourism presents
BIG CITY GETAWAY
daytrip ideas to get out of the daily grind
AIRBORNE & SPECIAL OPERATIONS MUSEUM 100 BRAGG BLVD., FAYETTEVILLE, NC 28301 910-643-2778 • WWW.ASOMF.ORG
The town of Fayetteville, North Carolina has a deep history, dating back to before the Revolutionary War. With the Cape Fear River running through it, Fayetteville was a central hub for economic and governmental growth for years. During the Civil War General Sherman and his Union Troops paid a visit to the armory here in Fayetteville, near the end of the war and burned it, along with large sections of Fayetteville. With more than 60,000 troops marching through Fayetteville and while he was burning buildings down, he encountered a former classmate at West Point whom he hadn’t seen for years. That man, Confederate soldier Edward Monaghan, had two sons serving for the Confederacy at the Fayetteville arsenal, where ammunition was made and stored. He pleaded with Sherman not to burn his house. Sherman obliged, declaring: “There is room enough in this world even for traitors.” Today the house stands as a library. Another structure was spared as well. The town’s Market House was saved from destruction, Mayor Archibald McLean and a majority of the seven town commissioners went to Sherman’s lines and negotiated the peaceful surrender of the town. During Sherman’s occupation of Fayetteville, Federal soldiers flew a United States flag from the Market House cupola. After the Civil War, the Market House remained an important part of the civic and economic life of Fayetteville, functioning as an open market into the 20th century. The upstairs rooms still serve as meeting space.
It stands on the corner of Parson and Gillespie Streets. Not far from here you will also find another memorial to war, and more importantly, the warriors that fight them. A place that tells their story. Welcome to the Airborne & Special Operations Museum. We made it a point to stop by the fascinating and well-done museum dedicated to these fighting men and women. On August 16, 1940, Lieutenant Bill Ryder led the Test Platoon to become the first American fighting man to stand in the door and jump into history. He was followed by Private William King, the first U.S. enlisted paratrooper. The work that followed in the next four years was amazing. Developing full-scale
