Battle of Forks Road and “Boundless” U.S. Colored Troops Memorial

This heritage site is a part of the American Battlefield Trust's Road to Freedom: North Carolina Tour Guide app, which showcases sites integral to the Black experience during the Civil War era. Download the FREE app now.

United States Colored Troop (USCT) soldiers served and sacrificed bravely in the last battle for Wilmington fought here at Forks Road on February 20-21, 1865. “Boundless,” a bronze sculpture of USCT soldiers, was installed on this battlefield in 2021 and commemorates the soldiers’ fight for freedom.

The fall of Fort Fisher in January 1865 foreshadowed Union control of Wilmington and the end of the war. But hard fighting remained. 3,000 Confederates dug in across the peninsula facing 8,500 Union troops. Here along the Federal Point Road where swampland on both sides formed a choke point, a USCT brigade of 1,600 soldiers from the 1st, 5th, 10th, 27th and 37th regiments charged forward only to fall back several hundred yards in a hail of canister and musket fire. For 34 hours, the opposing armies skirmished across these pine barrens. The 5th USCT, already proven in combat with three medal of honor recipients in its ranks, suffered the brunt of the 55 casualties. Before dawn on February 22nd, the Confederates withdrew and joined the burning and evacuation of Wilmington. Later that day, those who could marched alongside another USCT brigade and their white comrades into Wilmington — while many African Americans and white unionists cheered their liberators.

The Cameron family donated the land for the Cameron Art Museum, providing for the preservation of the remnants of the Confederate fieldworks and the Federal Point Road, as well as the interpretation of the battle’s history. The memorial sculpture and surrounding park honor those Black soldiers who strove for freedom and inspire us to take up their cause.