Bentonville
Battlefield
Scene of the
Last Major
Confederate
Offensive of the
Civil War
Office of Archives and History
Department of Cultural Resources
For more information, please contact:
Bentonville Battlefield
5466 Harper House Road
Four Oaks, North Carolina 27524
(910) 594-0789
Fax (910) 594-0070
www.bentonvillebattlefield.nchistoricsites.org
bentonville@ncmail.net
Hours:
Apr.–Oct.: Mon.–Sat. 9 A.M.–5 P.M., Sun. 1–5 P.M.
Nov.– Mar.: Tues.–Sat. 10 A.M.–4 P.M.
Sun. 1–4 P.M.
Call for holiday schedule.
Admission is free.
Groups are requested to make advance reservations.
40,000 of these brochures were printed at a cost of $.05 each.
Tour stops at several battlefield locations give visitors a close-up
look at where major actions took place.
Visitor Center tour stop: Begin your driving tour here.
• Bentonville Driving Tour
Confederate High Tide tour stop: View the portions of the
battlefield where the Confederates had their greatest success
on the first day of the battle.
• Confederate High Tide
• Union Artillery at the Morris Farm
Morgan’s Stand tour stop: This is where some of the fiercest
combat of the battle took place.
• Fighting at the Cole Plantation: the “Battle of Acorn Run”
• Fighting South of the Goldsboro Road: the “Bull Pen”
• Confederate Line Crossing the Goldsboro Road
N.C. Junior Reserve tour stop: Young boys aged 17 and 18 saw
action against the Federals here.
• Confederate North Carolina Junior Reserve Line
Mower’s Charge tour stop: At this location the Federals almost
captured the Confederate commander in the final hours of
the battle.
• Mower’s Charge Reaches Johnston’s Headquarters
• Hardee’s Counterattack
• Village of Bentonville
TThe Battle of Bentonville, which took place
during the three days of March 19–21, 1865,
was the last full-scale action of the Civil War
in which the Confederate army was able to
mount an offensive. This major battle, the largest ever
fought in North Carolina, was the only significant
attempt to defeat Gen. William T. Sherman after he left
Georgia. Departing from Savannah in January 1865,
Sherman had met little resistance on his march north-ward.
Union forces advanced through South Carolina,
capturing Columbia and devastating the countryside.
Only North Carolina lay between Sherman’s army and
Gen. U. S. Grant’s forces in Virginia, and Confederate
forces in the Carolinas were widely scattered. Gen.
Joseph E. Johnston was ordered to unite these troops
and attempt to prevent Sherman from combining his
army with that of Grant.
With less than half as many men as Sherman’s sixty
thousand, Johnston knew his only chance for success lay
in the possibility of finding Sherman’s army divided.
Miserable road conditions forced Sherman to divide his
command into two wings, and on March 18 Johnston
learned that the sections had become separated by a
half- day’s march. Sensing the opportunity to strike one
of the wings with his force of about twenty thousand,
the Confederate general moved his troops into position
near the village of Bentonville.
On the evening of March 18, Johnston organized his
forces into a sickle-shaped line along the Goldsboro
road and waited for the advancing Federals. The follow-were
taken to the farm home of John and Amy Harper,
where a field hospital was established. Some wounded
Confederates were likewise treated at this facility.
A dozen surgeons and attendants in their shirtsleeves stood
at rude benches cutting off arms and legs and throwing them
out of the windows, where they lay scattered on the grass.
—Remembrances of Bentonville by
Lt. Col. William Hamilton, Ninth Ohio Cavalry
The Harper House still stands at Bentonville
Battlefield and is furnished as a field hospital. A
Confederate cemetery and a section of Union trench-es
are also located on the site. Reminders of the battle
are on exhibit in the visitor center along with an
audiovisual program about the battle. Roads in the
area are marked with plaques highlighting events of
the Battle of Bentonville.
ing day Sherman’s left wing stumbled into Johnston’s
trap. Initial Confederate attacks overran large sections of
Federal lines. One Union division managed to hold on
despite being surrounded by Confederate adversaries.
Failing to completely crush the Union lines, Johnston’s
Confederates pulled back into positions held earlier in
the day. Sherman’s right wing arrived on the battlefield
early on March 20, ending Johnston’s hope of dealing
with a smaller Union force.
Nearer and nearer they came. . . . When not over forty or fifty
paces from us, the order so anxiously awaited was given, and a
sheet of fire blazed out from the hidden battle line . . . that was
demoralizing and fatal to the enemy. They battled, reeled, and
staggered, while we poured volley after volley into them, and great
gaps were made in their line, as brave Federals fell everywhere. . . .
—A Confederate soldier’s account of a
Union assault, March 19, 1865
For two days the opposing forces faced each other.
Cannon and rifle fire were constant. On March 21 a
Federal advance commanded by Gen. J. A. Mower
approached within two hundred yards of Mill Creek
bridge, Johnston’s only line of retreat, before being dri-ven
back. That evening Johnston’s weary troops aban-doned
their positions and withdrew toward Smithfield.
Federal forces observed but did not pursue the
Confederates. Johnston failed to halt the Union advance,
and Sherman’s army marched on to Goldsboro, where
supplies awaited the tired troops. On April 26, at the
Bennett Place near Durham, Johnston surrendered to
Sherman, ending the Civil War in the Carolinas.
The Battle of Bentonville was fought over an area of six
thousand acres. More than four thousand men were
reported killed, wounded, or missing during the three-day
battle. During the confrontation, wounded Union soldiers
Above: Joseph E. Johnston, Right: William T. Sherman
State Publications Collection
