March 19-21, 1865 - Bentonville
The XV Corps At Bentonville
March 19-21, 1865
Bentonville
Johnston County, NC
Gen. William T. Sherman > General Henry W. Slocum's left wing & General Oliver O. Howard's right (Bvt. Major General Joseph A. Mower), etc.
vs.
Gen. Joseph E. Johnston "and what remained of the Confederate army " > Hardee is important here, and Bragg sees action too, so does Hoke's Division, including his Junior Reserves; Wheeler and Hampton are here with the cavalry, etc.
* This battle immediately follows Averasboro, wherein the Confederates first tried to stop or slow Sherman's roll.
* The largest battle fought in North Carolina (80,000+ engaged, and the Union had three men for every Confederate on the field)
* The last major Confederate offensive of the war
* "The last large-scale battle of the Civil War."
* Judson Kilpatrick is here. He's been so busy - and he's going to make it to the end!
* Johnston limps away toward Smithfield. Sherman marches on to Goldsboro to regroup and pursue Johnston to surrender, which happens only a month later.
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| https://www.dncr.nc.gov/blog/2023/12/21/battle-bentonville-h-1 |
Battle of Bentonville (H-1)
Largest battle fought in N.C., March 19-21, 1865. U.S. army defeated the Confederate army in the state’s last major battle. Historic site 2 ½ mi. E.
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| https://www.dncr.nc.gov/blog/2023/12/28/sherman-hhh-1 |
Sherman (HHH-1)
Gen. Wm. T. Sherman camped in this area with his Left Wing on the night of March 18, 1865. The following morning, the Left Wing continued along this road meeting Gen. Joseph E. Johnston's Confederates in the Battle of Bentonville, 2 miles east. Meanwhile, Sherman joined his Right Wing, marching toward Goldsboro on another road, and thus missed the first day of the battle.
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=218735 https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=222860 |
Union Hospital
(HHH-2)
The Harper House was used as a hospital by the XIV Corps, March 19-21, 1865. About 500 Union wounded were treated here.
Confederate Hospital
(HHH-3)
Following the battle, 45 Confederate wounded were hospitalized in the Harper House.
Nineteen of these men died here. Surgeons moved others to regular Confederate hospitals.
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=222873 |
Union Headquarters
Maj. Gen. H. W. Slocum, commanding Sherman’s Left Wing, had headquarters in this field, March 19-21, 1865.
Erected 1959 by Archives and Highway Commission. (Marker Number HHH-8.)
*
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=222864 |
Bentonville Battlefield
has been designated a
National
Historic Landmark
This site possesses national significance
in commemorating the history of the
United States of America
1996
National Park Service
United States Department of the Interior
Erected 1996 by National Park Service.
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=222866 |
Battle of Bentonville
“In suffering condition”
— Carolinas Campaign —
(Preface):
The Carolinas Campaign began on February 1, 1865, when Union Gen. William T. Sherman led his army north from Savannah, Georgia, after the “March to the Sea.” Sherman's objective was to join Gen. Ulysses S. Grant in Virginia to crush Gen. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. Scattered Confederate forces consolidated in North Carolina, the Confederacy's logistical lifeline, where Sherman defeated Gen. Joseph E. Johnston's last-ditch attack at Bentonville. After Sherman was reinforced at Goldsboro late in March, Johnston saw the futility of further resistance and surrendered on April 26, essentially ending the Civil War.
* * *
Hoping to deflect Union Gen. William T. Sherman's army from Goldsboro, Confederate Gen. Joseph E. Johnston attacked Sherman's Left Wing here on March 19, 1865, after finding it separated from the Right Wing, located several miles southeast. As the fighting intensified, Sherman led the Right Wing here in support. Johnston's forces, vastly outnumbered, withdrew to Smithfield on March 21, and Sherman's army marched to Goldsboro.
*
This is the John Harper farmhouse, which the Union XIV Corps commandeered for a field hospital on March 19, 1865, during the Battle of Bentonville. Elements of Union Gen. H. Judson Kilpatrick’s cavalry, Gen. Alpheus S. Williams’s headquarters, and XX Corps soldiers occupied other parts of the farm. More than 500 Union wounded and 45 Confederate wounded were treated here during the three days of the battle, while approximately ten family members remained in the house upstairs. After the battle, the Union army transported its wounded to Goldsboro, while the 45 Confederates were left in the care of the Harper family. The Harpers buried those who died in the family cemetery nearby. After the war, because of the destruction across the 825-acre property, John Harper and his sons were compelled to work as sharecroppers on a neighboring farm.
“There are forty-five of the wounded of our army at the house of Mr. Harper….They are in suffering condition for the want of proper supplies and there is no surgeon to attend them. Mr. Harper and family are doing all their means will allow for the sufferers. Their wounds have been dressed and six or eight amputations performed skillfully by the surgeons of the enemy.”
- Lt. Col. Jacob W. Griffith, 1st Kentucky Cavalry, March 27, 1865
(Sidebar, lower center):
John Harper III settled on 200 acres here in southern Johnston County between 1803 and 1808. The family had relocated from Harpers Ferry, Virginia, where his father, John Harper, Sr., had served in the Revolutionary War. After John Harper III died in 1834, his wife, Anna, managed his estate until her death in 1841, when John Harper IV inherited the farm. John IV married Amy Woodard in 1838 and they raised nine children here. About 1855, Harper constructed this two-story farmhouse to replace the house that his father built early in the 1800s.
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| Witness Tree |
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=286221 |
The Kitchen
The unpainted frame structure in front of you is likely on the site of the Harper family's original kitchen. Before the widespread use of stoves, kitchens were often detached to avoid lighting cooking fires inside homes. An exterior kitchen kept the oppressive heat and foul odors away from the Harpers in the "big house." Enslaved women would have used the side doors behind you as they went about their work of preparing and serving meals.
In the antebellum South, a detached cookhouse also put a barrier between kitchen labor and the Harper house, which also helped to reinforce a separation between the free and enslaved people living on this land.
"...the servants prepared the meals, away down in the kitchen and took them up to the 'Big House' as they expressed it." - Mary Harper, 1905
(captions)
Access to electricity, gas, and plumbing in the 20th century allowed homeowners to move their kitchens inside. Kitchen outbuildings were repurposed or demolished. This historic frame building was relocated from elsewhere on the farm to stand in for the original Harper kitchen. here it is shown during the early 1960s. North Carolina Museum of History
During the 1920's, an interior kitchen was built on the west side of the house. The addition was removed shortly after this ca. 1960 photo was taken.
North Carolina Museum of History
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=222877 |
In memory of the North Carolinians who fought and died in the Battle of Bentonville
March 19-21, 1865
Erected 1982 by North Carolina Division – Sons of Confederate Veterans.
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=222865 |
Bentonville Battlefield Driving Tour
In the forests and fields around the North Carolina village of Bentonville, the armies of Confederate Gen. Joseph E. Johnston and Union Gen. William T. Sherman fought their last major engagement of the Civil War on March 19-21, 1865. Sherman was marching toward Goldsboro to meet Union armies coming inland from New Bern and Wilmington to re-supply his force. Johnston tried to stop Sherman by striking one last blow against his foe. Before Bentonville, their two armies had fought at Shiloh, Vicksburg, and Atlanta.
With nearly 80,000 men (60,000 Federals and 20,000 Confederates) on some 6,000 acres, the Battle of Bentonville was the largest battle fought in North Carolina and the last major Confederate offensive of the war. The battle resulted in four Congressional Medals of Honor for heroism but at a terrible price. The approximate combined casualties figure for this battle was 4,200 soldiers (killed, wounded, and missing or captured).
The 14-mile battlefield driving tour uses a road network little changed since 1865. While not covered with statues and cannons, Bentonville has historic markers dating to 1959. These exhibits will help you understand the complexity of this three-day battle and learn more about it from the soldiers who fought here. Please respect the battlefield – its fields, trenches, and trees – and do not damage or litter it. Much of it remains private property.
“The battlefield should be visited by thousands . . . . Great deeds were done there, on both sides, and American valor, endurance, and skill were nobly illustrated.”
- Fred Olds, father of the N.C. Museum of History, after touring the battlefield of Bentonville
“The Civil War was the defining moment in our nation’s history – and that war was decided on the battlefield, at sacred places like Bentonville. These hallowed battlegrounds are living memorials that remind Americans of the true cost of freedom. Preserving them for future generations guarantees that the sacrifices of the Civil War will not be forgotten.”
- Jim Lighthizer, President, Civil War Preservation Trust
After the battle, the country rang with news of Sherman’s fight with Johnston in the Carolina pine barrens. Northern newspapers, such as the New York Tribune, featured lengthy front-page stories. Yet the Confederacy was collapsing, and within a month the final surrenders of Johnston and Lee overshadowed Bentonville. Although veterans later stated that the fighting here was as intense, fierce, and devastating as the battles at Gettysburg or around Atlanta, Bentonville fell out of public awareness. The remote community enjoyed a quiet obscurity, while the battlefield remained in private ownership for most of a century.
Erected 2004.
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=222881 |
Texas
remembers the valor and devotion of her sons who served at Bentonville March 19-21, 1865
The eighth Texas cavalry was engaged with the left wing of Sherman’s Union army on the eve of the Battle of Bentonville. During the battle on March 21, the eighth Texas again performed valuable service in the Confederate attack on Union General Mower’s Division of the Seventeenth Army Corps. Lieutenant-General William J. Hardee commanding a corps in the battle, ordered about 80 men of the eighth Texas commanded by Captain “Doc” Matthews, a mere boy, to oppose Mower’s advance the Texans attacked in conjunction with other cavalry commanded by General Wheeler and Lieutenant-General Wade Hampton and Cumming’s Georgia Brigade. Young “Willie” Hardee, General Hardee’s only son, charged with the eighth Texas and was killed. Under heavy Confederate pressure, Mower soon withdrew his division to its original position. During the Confederate retreat from Bentonville the eighth and eleventh Texas cavalry played a prominent role.
In opposing the Union pursuit from Mill Creek Bridge until the pursuers withdrew at Hannah’s Creek, the Texans were surrendered with the remnants of the Army of Tennessee at Greensboro, North Carolina in May 1865.
Texas units at Bentonville
6th 7th 10th and 15th Texas Infantry
17th 18th 24th and 25th Dismounted Cavalry
8th 11th Texas Cavalry
A memorial to Texans who served the Confederacy
Erected by the State of Texas 1964
Erected 1964 by State of Texas.
https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=222882
In memory
of
Union Soldiers of the
14th, 15th, 17th and 20th Corps who
served during the Battle of Bentonville
March 19 - 21, 1865
XIV Corps • XV Corps • XVII Corps • XX Corps
Representing the States of
Alabama, Connecticut, Illinois,
Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Massachusetts,
Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey,
New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and
Wisconsin
Erected 2013 by Department of North Carolina, Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War.
https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=222879
In memory of the North Carolina soldiers who fought and died so courageously and the civilians who suffered so grievously during the Battle of Bentonville. March 19-21, 1865.
Sleep, soldier, sleep, in thy rough earthen tomb.
While above thee the winter winds rave.
In summer the birds will thy requiem sing,
and willows weep over thy grave.
No coffin enclosed his mangled remains,
no shroud, save his uniform old;
but his name is entwined in the laurels of fame,
and on memory’s pages enrolled.
Erected 1992 by United Daughters of the Confederacy – Harper House, Bentonville Chapter.
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=222883 |
Honoring the Dead of the Battle of Bentonville
“Time may teach us to forgive, but it can never make us forget.” - Confederate Lt. Gen. Wade Hampton, memorial address at Bentonville, March 20, 1895.
By the evening of March 22, 1865 both the Union and Confederate armies had vacated the village of Bentonville. The Union army advanced towards Goldsboro, while the Confederates moved to nearby Smithfield. Not only did local citizens have to cope with hundreds of wounded Confederate soldiers left behind after the battle, residents found their property covered with the graves of over five hundred Union and Confederate soldiers killed during the battle.
Dead Union soldiers were buried in marked graves so that their remains could be located and interred elsewhere after the war. The Confederate dead were buried on the battlefield either by their comrades, Union soldiers, or local residents. Twenty of the twenty-three Confederates who died in the Harper House were buried by the Harper family adjacent to the family cemetery, which sits in front of you to your left.
In 1867, the U.S. government established several National Cemeteries in North Carolina and Union soldiers buried in Bentonville were re-interred in the Raleigh National Cemetery. The fallen Confederates were left in their unmarked or poorly marked graves for nearly thirty years before any concerted effort was made to properly honor them.
"The object of this communication is to bring to the notice of your Association a sacred spot of earth, where sleep in unmarked graves the silent dust of twenty of the brave men who sacrificed their lives on the altar of Southern Rights.”
- Bentonville native M. H. Bizzell to the Confederate Monumental Association of North Carolina, June 2, 1893.
Reprinted in the Goldsboro Daily Argus, June 3, 1894.
In 1893, Bentonville native M. Haywood Bizzell wrote the North Carolina Monumental Association requesting an enclosed monument for the graves of Confederate soldiers treated in the Harper House. Although not immediately successful, his actions led to the monument before you.
In 1894, the Goldsboro Daily Argus printed the letter, prompting the Goldsboro Rifles, a North Carolina militia company and social organization, to raise money for an obelisk-style monument. The donors included Union veteran T. E. Harvey, who lost four fingers during the battle. The Rifles desired to relocate all “of the Confederate heroes who died in that fight” but were buried elsewhere to a “spot set apart for their final resting place.”
On March 20, 1895, Confederate general and South Carolina governor Wade Hampton spoke at the dedication. The Harpers’ eldest son, John, a minister opened with prayer. A heavy rain curtailed most of the program which was to include a “sham battle,” the forerunner of today’s reenactments.
Modern ground penetrating radar indicates a mass grave here, although the exact number interred is unknown.
“As the last token of friendship and remembrance of my Brother Soldier and companion in arms, I plucked from our Earth a nice little wild plumb tree filled with white blossoms and planted it at his head praying as I done so.”
Excerpt of a letter from Clark L. Reed to the parents of Pvt. J. M. Knapp, 21st MI, who was mortally wounded on the battle’s first day, dated March 24, 1865.
Quote courtesy of Harold and Lynn Green, Cedar Springs, Michigan.
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=222884 https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=222876 |
Confederate Cemetery
The remains of 360 Confederates who fell in the Battle of Bentonville lie here. They were moved to this plot from other parts of the battlefield in 1893. The monument was erected at that time.
In memory of
the Confederate
dead
Erected under
the auspices of Goldsboro Rifles
October 10, 1894.
♦♦♦
[ Left of Monument: ]
On this spot and
in this vicinity
was fought
the Battle of
Bentonville
March 19, 1865.
♦♦♦
[ Right of Monument: ]
Twenty three of
those buried here
had their last hours
soothed by the
loving care of
John Harper and
his noble wife
Amy A. Harper.
♦♦♦
[ Rear of Monument: ]
Nor shall your glory be forgot
While Fame her record keeps,
Or Honour points the hallowed spot
Where Valor proudly sleeps.
[ Soldiers Names: ]
Everett King, Co. B, 1 N.C. Batl’n
G.C. Taylor, Co. A, 1 N.C. Batl’n
M.J. Taylor, Co. B, 1 N.C. Batl’n
Arnold Rabon, Co. C, 1 N.C. Batl’n
Duncan Brown, Co. A, 1 N.C. Batl’n
J.A. McPhaul, Co. A, 1 N.C. Batl’n
Jacob Sours, Co. D, 1 N.C. Batl’n
Capt. R.G. Rankin, Co. A, 1 N.C. Batl’n
T.J. Blount, Co. A, 61 N.C. Reg’t
Zac Ellis, 1 N.C. Batl’n
Marx E. Cohen, Harts Battery, S.C.
J.R. Stringfield, Co. C, 6 Ga. Reg’t
J.W. Glover, Co. F, 6 Ga. Reg’t
S. King, Co. H, 27 Ga.Reg’t
T.J. Nail, Co. H, 27 Ga. Reg’t
A.B. Williams, Co. A, 34 Va. Reg’t
F.M.Williams, Co. C. Ark.
Allen Lansdown, Co. E, 23 Ga. Reg’t
G.S. Beavers Ga.
D.B. Nolger, Co. K, 39 Ala. Reg’t
Lieut. George M. Stoney, 1 S.C. Reg’t
Col. R.M. Saffell Tenn
Columbus Gilliam, Co. F, 1 Tenn Cal
E.A. Smotherman, Co. D, 45 Tenn Reg’t
J.H. Edwards, Co. B, 26 Tenn Reg’t
Capt. R.P.H Heacock, Co. A, 30 Ala Reg’t
Capt. J.A. Latham, 40 Ala Reg’t
Lieut J.W. Layermer, 42 Ala Reg’t
Lieut Edmund Pettus, Ala
J.M. Moon, S.C.
Charles T. Quigley, Co. B. 2 S.C. Reg’t Art
John M. Leathe, 1 S.C. Reg’t Art
Harley Nance, Co. K, 1 N.C. Batl’n
W.E. Read, Co. D, 13 N.C. Batl’n
Allen Wooten, 10 N.C. Batl’n
James F. Chambers, Co. B, 40 N.C. Reg’t
H.J. Taylor, Co. H, 40 N.C.reg’t
L.B. Flack, Co. G, 50 N.C. Reg’t
T.J. Hampton, Co. K, 50 N.C. Reg’t
J.A. Thomas, Co. B, 40 N.C. Reg’t
Lt. Col. Edward Mallett, 61 N.C. Reg’t
About 360 unknown Confederate dead are buried here
Erected 1894 by Goldsboro Rifles.
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Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston
A Soldier's General
— Carolinas Campaign —
General Johnston's Military Career
Named after Captain Joseph Eggleston, under whom his father Peter Johnston served in Lighthorse Harry Lee's Legion during the Revolutionary War, General Joseph Eggleston Johnston was born February 3, 1807 near Farmville, Virginia. He married Lydia McLane.
Johnston attended West Point Military Academy and graduated in 1829 along with Robert E. Lee. General Johnston was the highest ranking officer in the Union army to join the Confederate army.
Johnston was involved in combat in the Seminole War in Florida and the Mexican-American War in Cerro Gordo and Chapultepec, Mexico. He was the highest ranking officer at the Battle of First Manassas. Wounded at the Seven Pines Battle, he was replaced by General Robert E. Lee. General Johnston commanded the Department of the West, CSA (December 4, 1862 - December 1863), the Army of Tennessee, CSA (December 27, 1863 - July 18, 1864), and the Army of Tennessee and Department of Tennessee, Georgia, South Carolina and Florida, CSA (February 23 - April 26, 1865). Following the Battle of Bentonville and learning of General Lee's surrender in Virginia, General Johnston surrendered the Confederate forces under his command on April 26, 1865. General Johnston died March 21, 1891 and is buried at Greenmount Cemetery in Baltimore, Maryland.
Joseph E. Johnston Statue
Before you is a memorial to the Confederate soldiers and their commander, General Joseph Eggleston Johnston, who fought on this battlefield March 19-21, 1865. From the parking lot to the statue is the Confederate Soldiers' Walk of Honor. The names of the Confederate soldiers who fought in this battle are inscribed on red bricks. The first red bricks on the right with crosses are inscribed with the names of the soldiers who died in the battle, but whose grave markers read, "UNKNOWN CONFEDERATE SOLDIER, DIED OF WOUNDS, BATTLE OF BENTONVILLE 1865."
John and Amy Harper, who lived in the Harper House, cared for the graves of these soldiers into the 1890s. The graves are across the field to the left where the pine trees and monuments are located. The names of soldiers who served elsewhere during the War are inscribed on the gray bricks.
The land for this site was generously donated to the Sons of Confederate Veterans by Lawrence R. Laboda, who has created memorials to the horses that served both the Confederacy and the Union during the War Between the States, 1861-1865, as well as the 123rd New York Regiment. These memorials can be found to the right of the General Johnston statue.
Historic Hastings House
NC Civil War Trails Sign, 200 South Front Street, Smithfield
Built in 1854, the Hastings House served as the headquarters for Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston in mid-March 1865. From there, Johnston ordered the concentration of forces and March 19 attack at Bentonville.
Johnston returned to the Hastings House after the battle, resting his battered army. Day-to-day dispatches from General Johnston to General Robert E. Lee, pinpointing his location to the day, hour, and often minute, placed General Johnston in Smithfield several days before he proceeded to Bentonville to engage Sherman's army in the three days of battle. Johnston had been moving from Fayetteville, by way of Raleigh, to Smithfield. His first dispatch to Lee read, "Headquarters, Smithfield, March 17, 1865, 10:30 a.am." Johnston's March 18 dispatch to Lee was also datelined Smithfield.
General Johnston departed Smithfield to join General Wade Hampton, who had been moving up from Fayetteville and was camped near Bentonville, in contemplation of battle. Following the three-day battle at Bentonville, Johnston camped south of the Neuse River near Smithfield, but resumed his headquarters in the town on March 25. From Smithfield, he continued his dispatches to Lee, passing along information about his own and enemy troop movement.
Occupation of Smithfield
NC Civil War Trails Sign
Corner of Second and Market Streets, Smithfield
Confederates withdrew from Smithfield April 11, and the town was soon occupied by Union infantry. General William T. Sherman established his headquarters at the courthouse, announcing Lee's surrender from its steps.
Erected by North Carolina Civil War Trails.
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=222886 |
General Joseph Eggleston Johnston
“Defender of the Southland to the end”
In memory and honor of Confederate soldiers
who fought at Bentonville Battlefield, North Carolina
during March 19-21, 1865
Erected by Sons of Confederate Veterans
Dedicated March 20, 2010
Sculptor: Carl W. Regutti
Erected 2010 by Sons of Confederate Veterans.
Battle of Bentonville: March 19-21, 1865
Organization of Confederate Forces
—General Joseph E. Johnston, Commanding—
Army of Tennessee
Lt. Gen. Alexander P. Stewart
Cheatham's Corps
Maj. Gen. William B. Bate
Bate's Division
Col. Daniel L. Kenan
Finley's Brigade
Lt. Col. Eli Washburn
1st Florida • 3rd Florida • 4th Florida • 6th Florida • 7th Florida • 1st Florida Cavalry (dismounted)
Tyler's Brigade
Maj. William H. Wilkinson
4th Georgia Battalion Sharpshooters • 37th Georgia • 2nd Tennessee • 10th Tennessee • 15th Tennessee • 20th Tennessee • 30th Tennessee • 37th Tennessee
Brown's Division
(Arrived on the battlefield March 21)
Brig. Gen. Roswell S. Ripley
Gist's Brigade
Col. Hume R. Field
46th Georgia • 65th Georgia • 2nd Battalion Georgia Sharpshooters • 3rd Georgia Battalion • 16th South Carolina • 24th South Carolina
Maney's Brigade
Lt. Col. Christopher C. Mckinney
1st Tennessee • 8th Tennessee • 16th Tennessee • 27th Tennessee • 28th Tennessee
Strahl's Brigade
Col. James D. Tillman
4th Tennessee • 5th Tennessee • 19th Tennessee • 24th Tennessee 31st Tennessee • 33rd Tennessee • 38th Tennessee • 41st Tennessee
Vaughan's Brigade
Col. William P. Bishop
11th Tennessee • 12th Tennessee • 13th Tennessee • 29th Tennessee • 47th Tennessee • 51st Tennessee • 52nd Tennessee • 154th Tennessee
Cleburne's Division
Brig. Gen. James A. Smith
Govan's Brigade
Col. Peter V. Green
1st Arkansas • 2nd Arkansas • 5th Arkansas • 6th Arkansas • 7th Arkansas • 8th Arkansas • 13th Arkansas • 15th Arkansas • 19th Arkansas • 24th Arkansas • 3rd Confederate
Granbury's Brigade
(Arrived on the battlefield March 20)
Maj. William A. Ryan
5th Confederate • 35th Tennessee • 6th Texas • 7th Texas • 10th Texas • 15th Texas • 17th Texas • 18th Texas • 24th Texas • 25th Texas
Lowrey's Brigade
(Arrived on battlefield March 21)
Lt. Col. John F. Smith
16th Alabama • 3rd Mississippi • 8th Mississippi • 32nd Mississippi
Smith's Brigade
Capt. J.R. Bonner
1st Georgia volunteers • 54th Georgia • 57th Georgia • 63rd Georgia
Lee's Corps
Maj. Gen. Daniel Harvey Hill
Clayton's Division
Maj. Gen. Henry D. Clayton
Baker's Brigade
Brig. Gen. Alpheus Baker
37th Alabama • 40th Alabama • 42nd Alabama • 54th Alabama
Jackson's Brigade
Lt. Col. Osceola Kyle 25th Georgia • 29th Georgia • 30th Georgia • 66th Georgia • 1st Battalion Georgia Sharpshooters
Stovall's Brigade
Col. Henry C. Kellogg
40th Georgia • 41st Georgia • 42nd Georgia • 43rd Georgia • 52nd Georgia
Hill's Division
Col. John G. Coltart
Deas' Brigade
Col. Harry t. Toulmin
19th Alabama • 22nd Alabama • 25th Alabama • 39th Alabama • 50th Alabama
Manigault's Brigade
Lt. Col. John C. Carter
24th Alabama • 34th Alabama • 10th South Carolina • 19th South Carolina
Stevenson's Division
Maj. Gen. Carter L. Stevenson
Cumming's Brigade
(Arrived on the battlefield March 20)
34th Georgia • 36th Georgia • 39th Georgia • 56th Georgia
Palmer's Brigade
Brig. Gen. Joseph B. Palmer
58th North Carolina • 60th North Carolina • 3rd Tennessee • 18th Tennessee • 26th Tennessee • 32nd Tennessee • 45th Tennessee • 46th Tennessee • 54th Virginia • 63rd Virginia • 23rd Tennessee Battalion
Pettus' Brigade
Brig. Gen. Edwin w. Pettus
20th Alabama • 23rd Alabama • 30th Alabama • 31st Alabama • 46th Alabama
Stewart's Corps
Maj. Gen. William w. Loring
Loring's Division
Col. James Jackson
Adams' Brigade
Lt. Col. Robert J. Lawrence
15th Mississippi • 20th Mississippi • 23rd Mississippi • 43rd Mississippi
Featherston's Brigade
Maj. Martin A. Oatis
1st Mississippi • 3rd Mississippi • 22nd Mississippi • 31st Mississippi • 33rd Mississippi • 40th Mississippi • 1st Mississippi Battalion
Scott's Brigade
Capt. John A. Dixon
27th Alabama • 35th Alabama • 49th Alabama • 55th Alabama • 57th Alabama • 12th Louisiana
Walthall's Division
Maj. Gen. Edward C. Walthall
Quarles' Brigade
Brig. Gen. George D. Johnston
1st Alabama • 17th Alabama • 29th Alabama • 42nd Tennessee • 48th Tennessee • 49th Tennessee • 53rd Tennessee • 55th Tennessee
Reynolds' Brigade
Brig. Gen. Daniel H. Reynolds
Col. Henry C. Bunn
Lt. Col. Morton G. Galloway
4th Arkansas • 9th Arkansas • 25th Arkansas • 1st Arkansas Mounted Rifles (dismounted) • 2nd Arkansas Mounted Rifles (dismounted)
(Tablet 2)
Department of South Carolina, Georgia & Florida
Hardee's Corps
Lt. Gen. William J. Hardee
McLaws' Division
Maj. Gen. Lafayette McLaws
Blanchard's Brigade
Brig. Gen. Albert G. Blanchard
1st Battalion South Carolina Reserves • 2nd Battalion South Carolina Reserves • 6th Battalion South Carolina Reserves • 7th Battalion South Carolina Reserves Conner's Brigade
Brig. Gen. John D. Kennedy
2nd South Carolina • 3rd South Carolina • 7th South Carolina • 8th South Carolina • 15th South Carolina • 20th South Carolina • 3rd South Carolina Battalion
Fiser's Brigade
Col. John C. Fiser
1st Georgia Regulars • 2nd Georgia Battalion Reserves • 5th Georgia Reserves • 6th Georgia Reserves • 27th Georgia Battalion
Hardy's Brigade
Col. Washington Hardy
50th North Carolina • 77th North Carolina (7th Senior Reserves) • 10th North Carolina Battalion
Harrison's Brigade
Col. George P. Harrison
5th Georgia • 32nd Georgia • 47th Georgia
Battalion Artillery
Maj. A. Burnet Rhett
Legardeur's Louisiana Battery • H.M. Stuart's Battery (Beaufort Light Artillery)
Taliaferro's Division
Brig. Gen. William B. Taliaferro
Elliott's Brigade
Brig. Gen. Stephen Elliott, Jr.
22nd Georgia Battalion • 28th Georgia Battalion (Bonaud's) • 2nd South Carolina Heavy Artillery • Hanleiter's Georgia Battalion • Gist Guard South Carolina Artillery
Rhett's Brigade
Col. William Butler
1st South Carolina Infantry (Regulars) • 1st South Carolina Heavy Artillery • Lucas' South Carolina Battalion
Cavalry Command
Lt. Gen. Wade Hampton * Maj. Gen. Joseph Wheeler
(Army of Tennessee)
Allen's Division
Brig. Gen. William W. Allen
Anderson's Brigade
Brig. Gen. Robert H. Anderson
3rd Confederate Cavalry • 8th Confederate Cavalry • 10th Confederate Cavalry • 5th Georgia Cavalry
Hagan's Brigade
Col. D.G. White
1st Alabama Cavalry • 3rd Alabama Cavalry • 9th Alabama Cavalry • 12th Alabama Cavalry • 51st Alabama Cavalry • 53rd Alabama Cavalry • 24th Alabama Battalion
Butler's Division
(From the Army of Northern Virginia)
Maj. Gen. M.C. Butler
Brig. Gen. Evander M. Law
Butler’s Brigade
Brig. Gen. Evander M. Law
Brig. Gen. Thomas M. Logan
4th South Carolina Cavalry • 5th South Carolina Cavalry • 6th South Carolina Cavalry
Young's Brigade
Col. Gilbert J. Wright
10th Georgia Cavalry • Cobb's Georgia Legion • Jeff Davis Legion • Phillips' Georgia Legion
Horse Artillery
Earle's South Carolina Battery • Halsey's South Carolina Battery
Dibrell's Division
Col. George G. Dibrell
Breckinridge's Brigade
(formerly Lewis')
Col. W.C.P. Breckinridge
1st Kentucky Cavalry • 2nd Kentucky Cavalry • 9th Kentucky Cavalry • 2nd Kentucky Mounted Infantry • 4th Kentucky Mounted Infantry • 5th Kentucky Mounted Infantry • 6th Kentucky Mounted Infantry • 9th Kentucky Mounted Infantry
Dibrell's Brigade
Col. William S. McLemore
4th Tennessee (McLemore's) cavalry • 13th Tennessee Cavalry • Shaw's Tennessee Battalion
Humes' Division
Col. Henry M. Ashby
Ashby's Brigade
Lt. Col. James H. Lewis
1st Tennessee Cavalry • 2nd Tennessee Cavalry • 5th Tennessee Cavalry • 9th Tennessee Battalion
T. Harrison's Brigade
Col. Baxter Smith
3rd Arkansas Cavalry • 4th Tennessee Cavalry • 8th Texas Cavalry • 11th Texas Cavalry
Department of North Carolina
Gen. Braxton Bragg
Hoke's Division
(From the Army of Northern Virginia)
Maj. Gen. Robert F. Hoke
Clingman's Brigade
Col. William S. Devane
8th North Carolina • 31st North Carolina • 51st North Carolina • 61st North Carolina
Colquitt's Brigade
Col. Charles T. Zachry
6th Georgia • 19th Georgia • 23rd Georgia • 27th Georgia • 28th Georgia
Hagood's Brigade
Brig. Gen. Johnson Hagood
Contingent of Lt. Col. James H. Rion:
11th South Carolina • 21st South Carolina • 25th South Carolina • 27th South Carolina • 7th South Carolina Battalion
Contingent of lt. Col. John D. Taylor:
1st North Carolina Battalion Heavy Artillery (9th North Carolina Battalion) • 36th North Carolina • Adams' Battery (Company d 13th Battalion North Carolina Light Artillery)
Contingent of Maj. William A. Holland:
40th North Carolina
Kirkland's Brigade
Brig. Gen. William W. Kirkland
17th North Carolina • 42nd North Carolina • 66th North Carolina
North Carolina Junior Reserves Brigade
Col. John H. Nethercutt
70th North Carolina (1st North Carolina Jr) • 71st North Carolina (2nd North Carolina Jr) • 72nd North Carolina (3rd North Carolina Jr) • 20th battalion North Carolina Jr
Artillery
13th Battalion North Carolina Light Artillery
Lt. Col. Joseph B. Starr
Atkins' Battery (Company B) • Dickson's Battery (Company E)
Erected 2015 by The Sons of Confederate Veterans.
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Morris Farm
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=222890 |
Federal Artillery
Union batteries (26 guns) formed a line here, March 19. These guns covered retreating Federals during the Confederate charges and finally halted the advance of the Confederate Right Wing.
Erected 1959 by Archives and Highway Commission. (Marker Number HHH-9.)
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=293275 |
Heavy Thunder
The din of battle roared like one continuous peal of heavy thunder. -Capt. G. B. Gardner, C.S. Lt. Gen. Wm. J. Hardees' Escort Company
The cannon in front of you is a reproduction 3-inch 1 Ordnance Rifle, one of the most commonly used cannon during the Battle of Bentonville. Known officially as the "U.S. 3-Inch Wrought Iron Field Rifle Model 1861," the government ordered more than 1,000 during the course of the Civil War.
Invented during the late 1850s by John Griffen, the Ordnance Rifle was one of the first mass-produced field artillery pieces to use rifling technology, which gave it better range and accuracy than smoothbore pieces. With one pound of black powder, this artillery piece could withstand a ten-pound conical solid shot over 1,800 yards with deadly accuracy. At close range, the gun could fire canister and antipersonnel projectiles, but it was not as effective in this role as its smoothbore counterparts.
The 3-inch Ordnance Rifle barrel was considerably lighter than other cannon of the day. However, the manufacturing process made for an extremely strong and reliable artillery piece. The accuracy, range, and safety of these cannon made them favorites of artillerymen on both sides during the Civil War.
On March 19, 1865, twenty-one Federal artillery pieces — five batteries and one gun from a sixth — were placed about 200 yards behind you, in an open field on the Reddick Morris farm. Several were Ordnance Rifles, including those of Scovel's and Winegar's batteries. This mass of artillery played a crucial role in stopping the assaults of Bate's and Taliaferro's Divisions on the Morris farm, essentially ending the battle's first day.
(captions)
Union artillerists pose with a 3-inch Ordinance Rifle. Each piece was crewed by eight men. Library of Congress
Weighing in at more than three quarters of a ton, a team of twelve horses was need to transport the gun and all its necessary equipment. Library of Congress
Three-inch Hotchkiss shell commonly used in Ordnance Rifles. The conical shape of the shell fit the rifled grooves in the barrel allowing greater accuracy at longer ranges than traditional round canon balls. Photo by Danny Taylor. Shell from CSS Neuse State Historic Site
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=222911 |
Union Artillery at the Morris Farm
A point approximately 400 yards in front of you marks the center of a line of Union cannons positioned on the Morris Farm on March 19, 1865. These massed guns played a significant role in blunting the final Confederate attacks on the first day of fighting at Bentonville. Four batteries (of four guns each) were arrayed on both sides of a ravine, north of the Goldsboro Road. These sixteen guns held commanding angles of fire across the open fields to your right and behind you. An additional four-gun battery in position south of the road was joined by one gun of the 19th Indiana Battery. The 19th Indiana saw dramatic action earlier in the day at Cole’s plantation, where three of its guns were captured during the main Confederate attack. In the most intense artillery barrage of the three-day engagement at Bentonville, Union batteries on the Morris farm punished Confederate troops with spherical case shot and canister rounds at close range.
“The Rebs…undertook to carry a new line I established, in the angle of which I left a marshy interval commanded at canister distance by twelve pieces of [XX Corps] artillery….They were terribly punished…They left lots of dead officers and men, especially when the canister swept them on the left front.”
- Bvt. Gen. Alpheus S. Williams, commanding XX Corps.
“The enemy’s…artillery…concealed in the woods was very deadly….About half of our regiments….had come out into the open, in a field where these was nothing to conceal or protect them….Our men fell rapidly….under what seemed a tremendous concentrated firing upon us.”
- Pvt. Robert W. Sanders, 2nd South Carolina Artillery (fighting infantry, Elliot’s Brigade)
“The five batteries were opened at a distance less than seven hundred yards, throwing canister and spherical case into the wavering mass of rebels, the discharges being as rapid for a time as the ticks of a lever watch. Smoke settled down over the guns as it grew dark…and the flashes seen through it seemed like a steady, burning fire, and powder and peach blossoms perfumed the air….Captain Winegar…who ‘drew a good bow’ at Gettysburg and Chancellorsville, says he never witnessed such artillery fire.”
- E.D. Westfall, New York Herald correspondent present with the Union XX Corps during the battle for the Morris farm.
“[The artillery was] so loud that we had to yell to make our nearest neighbors understand us…while the ground trembled under our feet.”
- William Grunert, Illinois soldier in Case’s brigade.
Confederate Attacks
Across the fields behind this marker the Confederate Right Wing made five attacks on Union positions to the left, March 19, 1865. They were thrown back by the XX Federal Corps.
Erected 1959 by Archives and Highway Commission. (Marker Number HHH-10.)
https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=222903
Confederate High Tide
You are standing at the Morris farm, where part of the Union XX Corps arrived late in the afternoon on March 19,1865, to stop the main Confederate assault, which had crushed Carlin’s division of the XIV Corps at the Cole plantation. In the morning the Morris farmhouse was the XIV Corps field hospital, but it was abandoned and its wounded moved to the John Harper farm a half-mile west when Carlin’s men came streaming back and Confederate bullets began hitting the structure.
“The rebels amassed…emerged from the woods just as the sun went down. They came into Mr. Morris’ open field…and marched steadily on towards Robinson and the…batteries. They were received with the heaviest musketry….their officers…truly brave, brought them on in some kind of order past a point where [the 13th New Jersey and the 82nd Illinois] could get a flank fire on them. This added to their misery; yet they stood it bravely, and came on.”
- E.D. Westfall, New York Herald correspondent present with the Union XX Corps during the battle for Morris farm.
“The work of that battery was the most grand…during my three years of war…I shall always feel very grateful towards that battery for making it so hot for the rebs that I had the chance, and took our ambulance train out of the rebs’ grasp and to the rear.”
- Cyrus Fox, hospital steward, XIV Corps
“The vast field was soon covered with men, horses, artillery, caissons etc., which brought back vividly to our minds a similar scene at the Battle of Chancellorsville.”
- Samuel Toombs, 13th New Jersey.
“Such fiendish yells never saluted my ears before. Why, it seemed to me as though the doors of perdition had been thrown wide open, and that all the devils were out!”
- Chaplin I.W. Earle, 21st Michigan.
“If there was a place in the battle of Gettysburg as hot as that spot, I never saw it.”
- A North Carolina courier at the Morris farm.
Across the field in front of you Bate’s and Taliaferro’s Divisions – green garrison troops and seasoned men from the Confederate Army of Tennessee, under the command of Lt. Gen. A.P. Stewart – made four assaults with deadly consequences. At the Morris farm they were torn to pieces by crossfire from enemy muskets hidden in the woods (to your left) on their flank (the 13th New Jersey and 82nd Illinois), direct fire of twelve Union cannons of the XX Corps, and elements of Robinson’s brigade (behind you). Bate’s Division was swept away by concentrated musket fire from Robinson’s brigade directly in front of the division and a hailstorm of deadly canister rounds from nine additional field pieces, for a total of twenty-one Union cannons (XX and XIV Corps artillery) at the Morris farm. Bate’s attack fell apart, and the XX Corps stopped the Confederate high tide on March 19, ending the first day’s fighting at the Morris farm.
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Cole Plantation
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Confederate Main Charge
After overrunning two Union lines above this road, the Confederates crossed here in the main assault of March 19, 1865.
Union reinforcements halted their advance in the woods below the road.
Erected 1959 by Division of Archives and History. (Marker Number HHH-11.)
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=222904 |
Fighting at the Cole Plantation:
The “Battle of Acorn Run”
You are looking north of the Goldsboro Road at the site of the former William Cole plantation. Lt. Gen. Wade Hampton chose this ground (a mixture of dense vegetation and open fields) as an ideal location for Confederate forces to block the advance of the Union army (Sherman’s Left Wing).
Deploying north of the Goldsboro Road on March 19, 1865, Union Brig. Gen. William P. Carlin’s division (of the Union XIV Corps) sought shelter in a Y-shaped ravine from the incoming barrage by the Confederate batteries of Earle, Halsey, Atkins and Dickson. In an initial probing attack, Carlin realized that the entire Confederate army was entrenched in front of him. Part of Robinson’s brigade of the Union XX Corps was brought forward to bridge the gap in Carlin’s line but was unable to do so.
At 2:45 p.m. Confederate Lt. Gen. Alexander P. Stewart’s Army of Tennessee began a fierce frontal attack. Heavy Union casualties resulted, as Carlin had neither properly fortified the ravine nor repositioned Buell’s brigade. Carlin’s men fled in disarray to the Morris farm and did not rejoin the growing battle. The rout of Carlin’s division led men of the XX Corps to refer to the fight as the “Battle of Acorn Run,” a mock tribute to the XIV Corp’s insignia, the acorn.
“The eastern edge of an old plantation, lying principally on the north side of the [Goldsboro] road, and surrounded, east, south, and north by dense thickets of blackjack”
- Lt. Gen. Wade Hampton, describing terrain used against advancing Federals.
“our Enemies…poured in one continuous fire of destruction…one man was Shot down right by my side…on the other side of me…another poor fellow was shot in the back of the Head…I did not know but Every moment would be my last…”
- Pvt. Joseph Hoffhines, 33rd Ohio.
“We were in plain sight in the open field in musket range…we found the place a little unhealthy.”Capt. Joseph Hinson, 33rd Ohio.
“As far as we could see on both our right and left they were coming in unbroken lines with that old yell we had learned to know so well….We could plainly see their trap closing around us as they enveloped our flanks….It was impossible to maintain our position.”
- Lt. Marcus Bates, 21st Michigan.
Four men received the Congressional Medal of Honor for their efforts at Bentonville on March 19, 1865. The medal, authorized by Congress in 1863, was (and is) awarded “for particular deeds of most distinguished gallantry in action.”
• Pvt. Peter Anderson, 31st Wisconsin, single-handedly salvaged the sole remaining cannon from Webb’s battery, 19th Indiana, during the melee of the Confederate assault on Carlin’s division. Private Anderson received a Medal of Honor, a captain’s commission, and personal thanks from General Sherman.
• Lt. Allan H. Dougall, adjutant, 88th Indiana, (right) received his Medal of Honor for voluntarily returning to the fallen color bearer to save his regimental flag from capture. This action occurred during the rout of Carlin’s division at Cole’s plantation.
Two more soldiers received Medals of Honor for their actions near the “Bull Pen” south of the Goldsboro Road (behind you).
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| Did I mention I was sick on this trip? I'm not walking over there. I barely got out of the car. |
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=222906 |
Fighting South of the Goldsboro Road:
The “Bull Pen”
You are looking south of the Goldsboro Road at the area where Union Brig. Gen. James D. Morgan’s division began a defensive position facing Gen. Robert F. Hoke’s division after being deflected by the main Confederate line. These battle-hardened Union veterans had difficulty fortifying their position in the swampy, dense mass of trees and briars. Because of this harsh terrain, Morgan’s division was without artillery support. One participant in the fighting referred to this hotly contested area as the “Bull Pen.” The fighting here was so intense the surrounding woods caught fire.
Union skirmishers from Miles’s brigade of Carlin’s division deployed in front of Morgan’s line and were thrown back by Hoke’s Division during its initial assault. The Federal high command decided to use Morgan’s division as a stopgap until the arrival of reinforcements from the XX Corps. Attacked on three sides by Hoke’s soldiers and elements of the Army of Tennessee, Morgan’s men held out in heavy hand-to-hand combat until Cogswell’s brigade of the XX Corps relieved pressure from the rear of their position.
“We saw nothing in four years of army life to compare with that 19th of March at Bentonville.”
- Lt. R.J. Heath, 34th Illinois.
“The men in Union Brig. Gen. John Mitchell’s brigade piled up ‘logs, stumps, limbs…and anything [else] that could be breast-work of timber’ with shovelfuls of muddy soil.”
-Members of Mitchell’s brigade south of Goldsboro Road.
“I started at a lively clip, but had not gone far before I looked back and the Federals had risen up from behind that “bull pen” as thick as black birds on a horse-lot fence…The bullets were whistling, all around me so thick that only the protecting hand of the good Lord enabled me to escape.”
- Pvt. Claude I. Hadaway, 54th Alabama.
Fight for the Flags
Fighting in and around the “Bull Pen” on March 19 was the most intense hand-to-hand combat at Bentonville. Soldiers fought to protect the regimental colors of the 54th Virginia, 40th North Carolina, 60th Illinois, 26th Tennessee, and 14th Michigan. Three of the flags were captured.
Two companies of the 60th Illinois became cut off from the rest of their brigade as members of Kirkland’s North Carolina brigade attacked the color bearer with fixed bayonets. A 60th Illinois soldier with his own bayonet stepped forward to save his regimental colors.
Then action turned toward the 40th North Carolina. Cpl. George W. Clute of the 14th Michigan rushed for the Confederate flag, then dragged the color bearer and flag for one hundred feet before the Confederate lieutenant released the staff and fled.
At the same time, the 14th Michigan’s flag was endangered when the entire color guard fell in a devastating volley. Pvt. Henry E. Plant saved his regiment’s banner. Both Clute and Plant received the Medal of Honor thirty years later.
Members of the 14th Michigan captured troops and the colors of both the 26th Tennessee and the 54th Virginia.
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=222898 |
Cole Farmhouse
Stood in this field. Scene of heavy fighting, March 19. Destroyed on March 20 by Confederate artillery to prevent sniping.
Erected 1959 by Archives and Highway Commission. (Marker Number HHH-12.)
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=222895 |
Fighting Below the Road
One-half mile south of this point, across the road, Brig. Gen. J. D. Morgan’s Union Division halted the main Confederate charge, March 19, 1865, in one of the fiercest engagements of the battle.
Erected 1959 by Archives and Highway Commission. (Marker Number HHH-13.)
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=222900 |
First Union Attack
Brig. Gen. W. P. Carlin’s Division attacked the Confederate line above the road here on March 19. Repulsed, they threw up works but were driven out by the Confederate charge.
Erected 1959 by Archives and Highway Commission. (Marker Number HHH-14.)
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=222908 |
Confederate Line Crossing the Goldsboro Road
Directly in front and to your left, Confederate Maj. Gen. Robert F. Hoke’s division, on loan from the Army of Northern Virginia, blocked the old Goldsboro Road (now Harper House Road) to deflect the oncoming Union advance. The division was a mixed bag of veterans of Gettysburg and Cold Harbor, “Red Infantry” (artillery units from Fort Fisher and other coastal forts who served as infantry during the battle), and teenage boys formed into three regiments as a last-ditch Southern effort.
Late in the afternoon of March 19, Hoke’s Division attacked Union Brig. Gen. James D. Morgan’s line in the swampy, brier-infested area south of the road, the “Bull Pen” (to your right). With limited visibility, much hand-to-hand combat ensued. As fighting intensified north of the road, McLaws’s Division was removed from Hoke’s far left to assist Gen. William Hardee – a tactical error, as Hardee did not use the division. Morgan’s northern salient began to crumble under mounting pressure from Hoke’s line and Maj. Gen. D.H. Hill’s division. Yet the arrival of Union reinforcements of the XX Corps, and lack of Confederate initiative to seize the moment, doomed Southern efforts.
“For a time it seemed as though all was lost….A yell of indignation resounded in our ears when every man flew to his pos. determined to shed his life’s blood on that consecrated spot rather than give an inch…and the rebellious hosts came pressing on.”
- William Kemp, 98th Ohio.
“In a few moments they charged again with redoubled fury, all along the right and right center of the line. In our immediate front they were again repulsed, with terrible loss and the Fourteenth Michigan and Sixtieth Illinois, on our immediate right, charged their broken line in turn and drove them in confusion back over their own works….”
- Capt. Herman Lund, 16th Illinois.
“The charge [of Hoke’s Division] was desperate and persistent, and the roar of musketry, as it rolled up from that low wood, was incessant…the smoke obscured everything in front….Here the view was not a cheerful one. On the opposite side of [a clearing], at perhaps twenty-five yards’ distance, was a body of unmistakably rebel troops, marching by the flank in column of fours, towards the right.”
- Lt. Col. Alexander C. McClurg, chief of staff, Union VIV Corps.
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=222920 |
Confederate North Carolina Junior Reserve Line
In front of you is where the North Carolina Junior Reserves stood as the Army of Tennessee made its last grand charge against Carlin’s division at the Cole plantation on March 19, 1865. Three regiments and one battalion of Junior Reserves were assigned to Hoke’s Division – the 70th, 71st, and 72nd North Carolina regiments (1st, 2nd, and 3rd Junior Reserves); and Millard’s (20th) Battalion.
The Junior Reserves, assigned to Hoke’s Division, numbered nearly 1,000 muskets in the field. Called the “seed corn of the Confederacy,” eight battalions of North Carolina Junior Reserves (boys 17 to 18 years old) were created in the summer of 1864. The Junior Reserves saw action at Weldon, Fort Fisher, and Wise Fork. Despite that service, they were still underestimated for their fighting skills and Gen. Braxton Bragg did not use them in the main Confederate assault on March 19. However, when the Confederate line was realigned on March 20, the Junior Reserves – with only makeshift breastworks – fought against the Union skirmishers and held their position for the rest of the battle.
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=222921 |
Merging of the Armies
Sherman’s Right Wing Arrives
— Carolinas Campaign —
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You are standing near the position held by the North Carolina Junior Reserve on March 19, 1865, looking east down Old Goldsboro Road. Behind you and to your right, elements of Confederate Gen. Robert F. Hoke’s division engaged Union Gen. James D. Morgan’s division. The last grand charge of the Army of Tennessee, against Union positions on the Cole Plantation north of the road, took place in the open field directly behind you.
On March 20, when Gen. William T. Sherman appeared from the east with the Union Right Wing (directly in front of you), The Confederates changed position to meet the new threat. The Junior Reserves fell back to your left and formed a new line parallel to Old Goldsboro Road on Sam Howell Branch. The remainder of Hoke’s division occupied ground to the left of the Junior Reserves, who skirmished with the 14th Michigan and 16th Illinois Infantry. While the Confederate lines were shifting, an action ensued near the Green Flowers House crossroads one-half mile east, with the near capture of Union generals Oliver O. Howard, John A. Logan, and Charles R. Woods thwarted by the arrival of the 100th Indiana Infantry. During the next two days, the Confederate dug in and held firm against constant pressure from Union forces.
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| I never actually went to the village |
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=222917 |
Bentonville
This memorial marks the battlefield of Bentonville where, on March 19-21, 1865, General Joseph E. Johnston, with about 15,000 Confederate troops, principally from North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia[,] Tennessee, Alabama, and Mississippi, checked the advance of Major-General W.T. Sherman’s army of United States troops until confronted with overwhelming numbers. Conspicuous in this battle were three regiments and one battalion of North Carolina Junior Reserves in Major-General Robert F. Hoke’s Division.
Erected 1927 by
The North Carolina Historic Commission
and
The North Carolina Division United Daughters of the Confederacy
Erected 1927 by The North Carolina Historic Commission & The North Carolina Division United Daughters of the Confederacy.
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=222916 |
Main Confederate Line
The Confederate Left Wing, part of a long hook-shaped line designed to trap the Union forces, extended across the road here on March 19. This sector, occupied by Maj. Gen. R. F. Hoke’s Division, was evacuated on March 20. A new line parallel to the road was established 500 yards north.
Erected 1959 by Archives and Highway Commission. (Marker Number HHH-15.)
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=222926 |
March 20th —
Johnston Remains on the Battlefield
One-quarter mile to your front stood the center of the Confederate line on the afternoon of March 20. Shaped like a horseshoe, the center faced south towards the Goldsboro Road. Johnston's decision to remain on the battlefield after his failure the previous day was surprising. The arrival of Sherman's Right Wing, combined with Johnston's reputation for caution, suggested that the Confederates would hastily retreat.
Johnston's explanation for risking his army changed over the years. He initially claimed that he hoped Sherman would attack him in his well-fortified positions, hinting that Confederate morale would be jeopardized by a retreat. A decade later, he explained that "there was no object in remaining...but covering the bearing off of our wounded," indicating his memory may have been affected by his near disaster on March 21.
Johnston was alerted on March 20 that most of the Right Wing would approach from the east, placing them behind the Confederates. "Old Joe" directed his cavalry to delay Sherman's approach, and ordered R.F. Hoke's Division and the North Carolina Junior Reserves to face east and south, respectively. Johnston's right remained in its original position to deter an advance by the Union Left Wing.
[Bentonville] was the last battle of the war the Sixteenth [Illinois] was engaged in, but it was the most terrible of them all.
—A veteran of the regiment
On the morning of the 20th, as the enemy had three of his four corps present and well entrenched, the attack was not renewed. We held our ground in the hope that his greatly superior numbers might encourage him to attack, and to cover the removal of our wounded.
—Gen. Joseph E. Johnston to Gen. Robert E. Lee, March 27, 1865
Realizing the Confederates were withdrawing, Lt. Col. George W. Grummond's 14th Michigan aggressively seized Hoke's abandoned trenches. Buoyed by his success, and reinforced by Capt. Herman Lund's 16th Illinois, Grummond received permission at noon to pursue the southerners north of the road.
After a chase of over half a mile, the Confederate's newly formed center stunned the exhausted Federals with musket and artillery fire. Confederate Maj. Gen. D.H. Hill recognized the danger presented by Grummond's assault. Though forbidden to deploy his own corps to repel the Federals, he shattered Grummond's left using the North Carolina Junior Reserve Battalion and Dickson's Battery, units technically belonging to his rival, Gen. Braxton Bragg.
Lund's Illinoisans received the bulk of the fire, but he was not authorized to fall back without permission, which did not arrive because Grummond had already retreated. The 14th Michigan had been on the heels of W.W. Kirkland's North Carolina brigade when, after reaching their new position, the Tar Heels turned on their pursuers, mowing them down with concentrated musketry fire. Heavily outnumbered, and with casualties mounting, Grummond ordered a withdrawal. Realizing he was on his own, Lund finally retreated back to the safety of the abandoned Confederate trenches south of the road.
After I had succeeded in turning six guns on them they retired precipitately.
—D.H. Hill
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=286246 |
The Fight For Flowers' Crossroads
"The enemy's infantry and artillery is advancing rapidly... our cavalry is too weak to accomplish much."
- Brig. Gen. E.M. Law to Col. Archer Anderson (Johnston's aid), March 20, 9:50 a.m.
By noon on March 20, the battle's second day, fewer than 2,000 Confederates defended Flowers' Crossroads (in front of you). They were facing Maj. Gen. W.T. Sherman's 26,000-man Right Wing, commanded by Maj. Gen. O.O. Howard, which was advancing from your east (your left) on the Goldsboro Road. Howard's approach threatened Gen. J.F. Johnston's army from behind as it faced Sherman 's Left Wing further to the west.
Initially Johnston could only spare Brig. Gen. E.M. Law's 1,000 cavalryman to slow Howard. After fighting, retreating, and then fighting again over six miles, Law's troopers regrouped here. Two pleasant sights greeted Law at the crossroads: nearly 1,000 reinforcements, and Maj. Gen. Joseph Wheeler, who took command. The defenders were still drastically outnumbered, but the weight of command was now off Law's shoulders.
"The Rebels would wait until we got to the top of a hill, give us a volley and run until they got over the next hill."
- Capt. John Alexander, 97th Indiana
Throughout the morning, Col. R.F. Catterson's brigade, armed with repeating rifles, made short work of Law's resistance. Not sensing any threat from the thus far retreating Confederates, Howard, XV Corps commander Maj. Gen. John Logan, and First Division commander Bvt. Maj. Gcn. Charles Woods kept up with the hard-charging brigade. The generals were followed by Catterson's mule teams who also suspected little danger.
Unaware of the stand at the crossroads, the generals rode into the field across the road in front of you, prompting a cavalry charge in their direction. The mule train was caught in between. The mules stampeded in terror, causing one officer to later describe the "air for a while... to be as full of frying pans, coffee pots, tin plates, and cups, as bullets." This chaos covered the generals' escape.
The charge proved to be the last gasp for the Southerners at the crossroads. An early afternoon attack by the 46th Ohio sent them retreating to a new line a half mile north (to your right). The road was clear of Confederates, but Howard had been held up long enough to save Johnston's army.
Erected by Friends of Bentonville Battlefield, Inc.
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=286336 (I certainly won't be reproducing the beautiful proprietary map, so you'll just have to zoom in or check out the American Battlefield Trust yourself.) |
The XV Corps At Bentonville
On the evening of March 19, the 15,000 soldiers of of Gen. J.A. Logan's XV Corps departed at moonrise for the 12-mile march to Bentonville, They had been called to the aid of Maj. Gen. W.T. Sherman's Left Wing, which had been ambushed by a Confederate army earlier that day. By the middle of March 20, Logan's men had driven away the few Southerners sent to impede their advance. A link was forged with the Left Wing a mile to your left, up the Goldsboro Road.
The remainder of the Right Wing — Maj. Gen. Frank Blair's XVII Corps — followed closely behind Logan. Blair's 11,000 men extended Union lines further northeast. Sherman' entire force was on the field, deployed in a six-mile arc around the now drastically outnumbered Confederates.
"John Logan! Where is Logan?"
- Gen. Sherman when looking for assistance for his Left Wing
"Keep cool, they are coming again. Wait until you can count the buttons on their coats and see the whites of their eyes before you shoot."
— Gen. John Logan along Sam Howell Branch, March 21, 1865
Once deployed, Logan's corps faced Maj. Gen. Robert F. Hoke's Division, entrenched along the far bank of Sam Howell Branch, a small creek in the woods in front of you. In some places, Logan's and Hoke's skirmishers were a mere 75 yards apart. Despite orders from Sherman not to launch a full-scale assault, Bvt. Maj. Gen. Charles Woods' and Bvt. Maj. Gen. John Corse's divisions repeatedly drove Southerners from their rifle pits, only to have them recaptured during counter attacks. Casualties, especially among officers, mounted for both sides.
As fighting continued on March 21, men were pulled from Hoke's Division to shore up threatened areas along the Confederate line. Emboldened, the XV Corps redoubled their efforts to drive off the few adversaries remaining in their front. One U.S. soldier reported that the more than 300 men of his regiment fired 17,000 rounds on March 21 alone, yet the Southerners still held on. Expecting the battle to continue, Logan's men were surprised to find Confederate defenses abandoned at dawn on March 22.
Maj. Gen. John A. Logan commanded the XV Corps during the Carolinas' Campaign. (Library of Congress)
Private Clark E. Cummings, 31st Iowa Infantry. The XV Corps insignia is visible on his jacket. (Library of Congress)
The 6th Iowa's Charles F. Stratton enlisted in 1861. He survived almost the entire war only to be killed near here on March 20. (The Excelsior Brigade)
Erected by Mr. Phil Flowers and Family...
Sources / Suggested Reading:
https://www.battlefields.org/learn/civil-war/battles/bentonville
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