Editing Goldsboro, North Carolina (section)

==History==
Around 1787, when [[Wayne County, North Carolina|Wayne County]] was formed, a town named Waynesborough grew around the county's courthouse. In 1787, [[William Whitfield III]] (son of [[William Whitfield II]]) and his son were appointed "Directors and Trustees"
for designing and building the town.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://wayne.lostsoulsgenealogy.com/cems/whitfieldcem.htm |title=Whitfield Cemetery |website=Wayne.lostsoulsgenealogy.com |access-date=2017-07-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150814013558/http://wayne.lostsoulsgenealogy.com/cems/whitfieldcem.htm |archive-date=2015-08-14 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://walkofhonor.com/whitfield_william_army.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081120194058/http://www.walkofhonor.com/whitfield_william_army.html |url-status=usurped |archive-date=November 20, 2008 |title=William Whitfield |website=Walkofhonor.com |access-date=2017-07-17}}</ref> Located on the east bank of the [[Neuse River]], the town became the [[county seat]]. Population growth in Waynesborough continued through the 1830s. However, this changed once the [[Wilmington and Weldon Railroad]] was completed in the early 1840s. By then, a hotel had been built at the intersection of the railroad and [[New Bern, North Carolina|New Bern]] Road, which grew into a community after the train started to transport passengers from there.

More and more citizens soon relocated from Waynesborough to this growing village, named eventually "Goldsborough's Junction" after Major Matthew T. Goldsborough, an Assistant Chief Engineer with the railroad line. Later this was shortened simply to Goldsborough. In 1847, the town was [[Incorporation (municipal government)|incorporated]] and became the new Wayne County seat following a vote of the citizens of Wayne County. Local legend has it the Goldsborough supporters put [[moonshine]] in the town's well to encourage people to vote for Goldsborough.

In the following decades, Goldsborough's growth continued in part by new railroad connections to [[Charlotte, North Carolina|Charlotte]] and [[Beaufort, North Carolina|Beaufort]]. By 1861, the town's population was estimated to be 1,500. It was the trading center of a rural area that started with yeoman farmers. By this time, it had been developed as large cotton plantations dependent on the labor of [[Slavery in the United States|enslaved African Americans]], as the invention of the [[cotton gin]] had enabled profitable cultivation of short-staple cotton in the up-counties.

Because of its importance as railroad junction, Goldsborough played a significant role in the [[American Civil War|Civil War]], both for stationing [[Confederate States of America|Confederate troops]] and for transporting their supplies. The town also provided hospitals for soldiers wounded in nearby battles.

In December 1862, the [[Battle of Goldsborough Bridge]] was waged, in which both sides fought for possession of the strategically significant [[Wilmington and Weldon Railroad]] Bridge. [[Union (American Civil War)|Union]] General [[John G. Foster|John Foster]] arrived with his troops on December 17, aiming to destroy this bridge in order to put an end to the vital supply chain from the port of [[Wilmington, North Carolina|Wilmington]]. He succeeded on that same day, his troops overpowering the small number of defending [[Confederate States Army|Confederate]] soldiers and burning down the bridge. On their way back to New Bern, Foster's men were attacked again by Confederate troops, but they survived with fewer casualties than the enemy. The important bridge at Goldsborough was rebuilt in a matter of weeks.

Goldsborough was the scene of another Union offensive in 1865, during Union [[General Sherman]]'s [[Carolinas Campaign]]. After the battles of [[Battle of Bentonville|Bentonville]] and [[Battle of Wyse Fork|Wyse Fork]], Sherman's forces met with the armies of [[John Schofield|Schofield]], their troops taking over the city in March. During the following three weeks, Goldsborough was occupied by over 100,000 Union soldiers. After the war was over, some of these troops continued to stay in the city.

In 1869, the spelling of the city was officially changed to Goldsboro. Wayne County was part of [[North Carolina's 2nd congressional district]] following the Civil War, when it was known as the "Black Second", for its majority-black population. This district elected four Republican African Americans to Congress in the 19th century, three of them ''after'' the Reconstruction era. The attorney [[George Henry White]] was the last to serve, being elected in 1894 and serving two terms.

The Democrat-dominated legislature established legal racial segregation in public facilities. To further this, in the 1880s it authorized a facility to serve the black mentally ill, the State Hospital in Goldsboro. In 1899 the legislature authorized an addition but did not appropriate sufficient funds.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://docsouth.unc.edu/nc/hospital/hospital.html |title=State Hospital (Goldsboro, N.C.). Report of the State Hospital, at Goldsboro, N. C., from November 30, 1902, to November 30, 1904 |website=Docsouth.unc.edu |access-date=2017-07-17}}</ref> This operated until after passage of civil rights legislation requiring integration of public facilities. In addition, the hospital was affected by the 1970s movement to de-institutionalize care for the mentally ill. Most states have failed to adequately support community programs to replace such facilities.

During [[World War II]] the North Carolina congressional delegation was successful in gaining the present-day [[Seymour Johnson Air Force Base]], which opened on the outskirts of Goldsboro in April 1942 as a [[US Army Air Forces]] installation named Seymour Johnson Field. From this point on, the city's population and businesses increased as a result of the federal defense installation. The base's name was changed to Seymour Johnson AFB in 1947 following the establishment of the [[US Air Force]] as an independent service.

The city is home to Goldsboro Milling Company, the 10th largest producer of [[Domestic pig|hogs]] in the U.S., and also a major producer of [[turkey (bird)|turkey]]s.
 
The [[Borden Manufacturing Company]], [[First Presbyterian Church (Goldsboro, North Carolina)|First Presbyterian Church]], [[L. D. Giddens and Son Jewelry Store]], [[Goldsboro Union Station]], [[Harry Fitzhugh Lee House]], [[Odd Fellows Lodge (Goldsboro, North Carolina)|Odd Fellows Lodge]], and [[Solomon and Henry Weil Houses]] are listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]].<ref>{{NRISref|2010a}}</ref>

===Nuclear accident===
{{Main|1961 Goldsboro B-52 crash}}
In 1961, two 3.8 [[TNT equivalent|megaton]] [[hydrogen bombs]] were dropped accidentally on the village of [[Faro, North Carolina|Faro]], {{convert|12|mi}} north of Goldsboro, after a [[1961 Goldsboro B-52 crash|B-52 aircraft broke up in mid air]]. The two [[Mark 39 nuclear bomb]]s were released after the crew abandoned a [[B-52 Stratofortress|B-52]] bomber which had suffered mid-flight [[structural failure]]. Both bombs went through several steps in the arming sequence, but neither detonated.<ref>{{cite web | title=Nuclear Mishap in Goldsboro| work=Broken Arrow: Goldsboro, NC (2000)| url=http://www.ibiblio.org/bomb/ | access-date=June 14, 2005}}</ref> One bomb was recovered. Although much of the second bomb was also recovered, a missing piece containing uranium was believed to have sunk deep into the swampy earth and could not be recovered. The piece remains in land that the Air Force eventually purchased in order to prevent any land use or digging.<ref>{{cite web |title=January 1961 - Bombs Over Goldsboro |work=This Month in North Carolina History, University of North Carolina Libraries |url=http://www.lib.unc.edu/ncc/ref/nchistory/jan2008/index.html |access-date=April 6, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111228001711/http://www.lib.unc.edu/ncc/ref/nchistory/jan2008/index.html |archive-date=December 28, 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref> In 2013, it was revealed that three safety mechanisms on one bomb had failed, leaving just one low-voltage switch preventing detonation.<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/20/usaf-atomic-bomb-north-carolina-1961 "USAF Atomic Bomb in North Carolina 1961"], ''[[The Guardian]]'', September 20, 2013.</ref>