On March 15, 1941, the General Assembly designated the dogwood as the state flower. In choosing the dogwood the General Assembly called the bloom “a radiantly beautiful flower which grows abundantly in all parts of this State.”
Four species of dogwood are native to North Carolina. Cornus florida, the flowering dogwood, grows on a tree, and can be found during spring in most parts of the state, and is the flower with which most people are familiar.
On March 14, 1984, the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge was established on mainland Dare and Hyde counties to protect and preserve the forested wetland habitat called “pocosin” and its associated wildlife species.
On March 14, 1862, the Battle of New Bern was fought. The Battle was second of three major engagements in an expedition led by Union Gen. Ambrose Burnside. The first was at Roanoke Island in early February. After capturing the Island and securing the region, Burnside set his sights on New Bern, a strategic port.
On March 13, 1953, UNC-Chapel Hill students Carl Kasell and Charles Kuralt stepped up to the microphone for WUNC’s inaugural FM broadcast.
After getting its start as a student-run AM station in the 1940s, the station made its transition to the FM band with future broadcasting greats Kasell and Kuralt. The station went on a six-year hiatus in 1970, after being taken off the air by technical difficulties and returned in 1976 as a professionally-run National Public Radio affiliate.
On March 13, 1821, North Carolina’s first attorney general, Waightstill Avery, died in Morganton.
A native of Connecticut, the Princeton-educated Avery came to North Carolina by way of Edenton in 1769 and was granted permission to practice law in the state. While living in Charlotte in 1772, Avery was elected to serve in the provincial assembly.
He was a signer of the 1775 Mecklenburg Resolves that declared all laws of the British Crown void and suspended authority of the King and Parliament.
On March 12, 1944, an all-white team from Duke University’s medical school faced off against an all-black team from what is now North Carolina Central University, the Eagles, in a secret, interracial basketball game.
At the time, strict segregation laws criminalized racial interaction and fostered a dangerous environment for those who violated them, prompting the participants to take extreme caution in planning and attending the event. Coaches kept school administrators in the dark and barred the doors to the Eagles’ gym.
On March 12, 1952, North Carolina native Herman Baity became chief engineer and director of sanitary engineering for the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva, Switzerland.
On March 12, 1865, Union troops under the command of Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman set fire to the Fayetteville Arsenal complex as they marched through North Carolina. The United States Arsenal at Fayetteville was built in 1838. During the Civil War it produced rifles, ammunition and gun carriages for the Confederacy and was vital to the Confederate war effort.