A piece of Washington’s history is being corrected by the N.C. Office of Archives & History, according to a spokeswoman for its N.C. Historical Marker Program.

Two of the program’s markers in Washington were removed this past summer, according to Ansley Wegner, program coordinator and a research historian. Wegner received several inquiries about the “missing” markers that were located on West Main Street between Bridge and Van Norden streets.

“What happened is there’s two signs involved, B15 and B39. There was Siege of Washington B39 and Attack on Washington B15, and Siege of Washington B39 was wrong,” Wegner said. “It’s always been wrong. There are letters in our files saying, ‘That marker’s wrong. Why is it up?’ There’s a letter to the Washington Daily News in June of 1982 saying, ‘This marker is wrong. Who can fix this for us?’ Nobody in this office did anything.”

Leesa Jones, a Washington resident who leads tours that focus on the city’s black history, said she became concerned that someone was stealing historical markers and began inquiring about the missing markers, including two that had been erected in Chocowinity. One marker provided information about Trinity School. That marker disappeared during a 2014 tornado. The other marker, concerning Trinity Church, was damaged beyond repair in June, according to Wegner.

Jones said that when she was told Tuesday why the markers were taken down, she was relieved to learn there was no conspiracy to steal the markers

“Every morning I passed there and would go, ‘Somebody has stolen our markers.’ It just didn’t make sense they were moved.  Everybody I asked — no one knew what happened to them,” Jones said.

“I finally heard from them (markers program) and found out what happened. I was really happened to hear that,” Jones said.

Wegner, who took over the markers program about a year ago, said a Washington resident who lives near the B15 marker called her office to inform it that marker was in poor shape. “So, I started looking into it. When I was pulling up my map to let DOT know about it, I saw this other one really nearby, so I pulled up information about that, pulled the files. Come to find out, they’re essentially telling the same story, just with different details — and the details on B39 are wrong,” Wegner said.

Wegner had B39 removed and combined the information from the two signs for placement on a new marker.

“I ordered a new marker. The new marker is going to be called B15 Siege of Washington because I think that’s the better term for the military action that was going on at the time. So, there’s just going to be the one sign now, but it’s going to be right,” Wegner said. “I hope the people appreciate that. Sadly, I hate that a marker was up for, I don’t know, 70 years or so that was wrong. I hate that because I think when people look at these markers they look at it as factual.”

Wegner said the letter to the editor of the Washington Daily News was published June 22, 1982.

“I’m trying to make sure now that I’m overseeing the program that we have correct markers. That action didn’t need more than one to tell that story,” Wegner said.

The new marker, expected to be erected in about four to six weeks, will read: “B15 Siege of Washington. Town seized by Union troops March 1862. Efforts to recapture it failed in 1862 and 1863. Union army withdrew in April of 1864.”

Wegner said those facts “are what happened.” There was no need to correct the B39 marker because it would provide the same information, Wegner said.

The historical markers are made by hand in Ohio, Wegner said.

In 1935, the N.C. General Assembly authorized the establishment of the North Carolina Highway Historical Marker Program (Public Laws, Chapter 197), according to the program’s website. “From that time forward, the program has been administered as a cooperative venture among state agencies. It is presently the joint responsibility of the Historical Research Office, Division of Historical Resources, Department of Cultural Resources, and the Traffic Engineering Branch, Division of Highways, Department of Transportation. The North Carolina Highway Historical Marker Program is one of the oldest such programs in continuous operation in the United States,” reads a part of the website.