NORTH CAROLINA GENERAL ASSEMBLY

1961 SESSION

 

 

CHAPTER 1094

HOUSE BILL 313

 

 

AN ACT TO APPROPRIATE FUNDS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF BENTONVILLE BATTLEGROUND STATE HISTORIC SITE.

 

WHEREAS, the Battle of Bentonville, March 19‑21, 1865, was the Confederacy's only full scale stand against General Sherman's campaign through the Carolinas and was the last major battle of the War Between the States, and now is receiving publicity over the Nation as one of the important events to be commemorated during the Centennial of that War; and

WHEREAS, appropriations by the General Assembly of 1957 and later, as well as twenty‑five thousand dollars ($25,000.00) raised privately, have made it possible to acquire the main portion of the battlefield, including the Confederate Hospital and the Confederate Cemetery, and to maintain it as a State Historic Site; and

WHEREAS, it has not been possible to develop the battlefield sufficiently to accommodate the hundreds of thousands of visitors and tourists who, according to present visitation trends, are expected to visit the battlefield during the Centennial years; and

WHEREAS, in order to reap the benefits of this increased interest in Bentonville Battleground both within the State and over the Nation, engendered by the Centennial, it is necessary to provide without delay a battlefield museum‑visitor center and also to provide the means to complete the restoration of the Confederate Hospital and other historic features of the battlefield; and

WHEREAS, in order to be prepared for the nationally important exercises expected to be held at Bentonville early in 1965, on the occasion of the one hundredth anniversary of the battle, it is important that funds for these purposes be provided in 1961: Now, therefore,

 

The General Assembly of North Carolina do enact:

 

Section 1.  There is hereby appropriated from the General Fund of the State to the Department of Archives and History the sum of twenty‑six thousand dollars ($26,000.00) to be used for the following purposes: Construction and equipping of a visitor center‑museum building, completion of the restoration of the Confederate Hospital (Harper House) and two outbuildings.

Sec. 2.  All laws and clauses of laws in conflict with this Act are hereby repealed.

Sec. 3.  This Act shall be in full force and effect upon its ratification.

In the General Assembly read three times and ratified, this the 21st day of June, 1961.