On March 31, 1862, Vincent Colyer was appointed Superintendent of the Poor for the Union’s Department of North Carolina. Stationed in the occupied town of New Bern, Colyer immediately set about employing African Americans as skilled laborers to work on fortifications for the town. He managed to have three sets of earthworks constructed during his brief tenure.
Topics Related to This Day in North Carolina History
On March 31, 1934, songwriter John D. Loudermilk was born in Durham.
Loudermilk learned to play instruments at the Salvation Army church he attended as a child, and his mother taught him to play a cigar box ukulele built by his father. At age 13, he performed on Durham radio station WTIK as Little Johnny Dee, his recording name on the Colonial label.
On March 31, 1933, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was established to provide work relief to men ages 18 to 25.
On March 31, 1973, Carowinds, near Charlotte, opened to the public.
Miss North Carolina and Miss South Carolina cut the ribbon at the opening ceremony. Young Charlotte resident, Jimmy Henderson, waving a giant ticket, led about 3,000 visitors into the park in a parade reminiscent of the opening of Disneyland in California.
On March 30, 1811, Jacob W. Holt, notable carpenter, builder and contractor, was born in Virginia.
On March 30, 1929, the federal government acquired the Dismal Swamp Canal for $500,000.
On March 29, 1795, Patriot, planter and prominent Raleigh resident Joel Lane died.
Born in Halifax sometime in the early 1740s, Lane is believed to have been a descendant of early settlers of Jamestown. After serving as justice of the peace and sheriff in Halifax County, Lane acquired several thousand acres of land in what is now Wake County and moved there sometime in the late 1760s.
On March 29, 1982, UNC basketball Coach Dean Smith and his Tar Heels won the school’s first national title since 1957. The Tar Heels took on the Georgetown University Hoyas in New Orleans in final game in the National Collegiate Athletic Association basketball tournament that year.
On March 29, 1862, Union forces led by General John G. Parke landed unopposed on Bogue Banks at the mouth of Hoop Pole Creek.