- Title
- State
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-
- Date
- August 09 1958
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-
- Place
- ["North Carolina, United States"]
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State
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The Last “Might Have Been"
NOTES ON THE MAP; Tbi» *o» d«o«n *crjr ftcc-bord indeed, ond make» no prclcnte to oeeuroci in diilonce, direction or topogrophy. I ho»c morked
the moin point» ol intcreit on ond neor the modern po»ed rood ocrot» the battlefield. but hove indicoted onty tho»e cro»»rood» which »till e»ijt ond which
»cr*cd
о»
route» of troop» or point» in the bottle. The indicotion» of the tc»erol po»ifion» of John»ton't ormy do not ogree exactly with thote on militory
mop» of the time, homing been ottered slightly to »uit the octuol terroin of the field. — M. W. W.
At Bentonville, a brilliant group of Confed¬
erate officers led a dwindling army against
Sherman's hordes— and a desperate gamble
almost succeeded.
By MANLY WADE WELLMAN
The batilc of Bcntonvillc, last blow
for Confederate freedom in North
Carolina — ever hear of it?
It was fought in an out-of-the-way
spot that's still somewhat out of the
way. You get there by Highway 701
— turning south from Highway 301
four miles west of Smithfield. or driv¬
ing north from Newton Grove. There
arc several ways in. but the best is a
paved road, leading you left about nine
miles south of the turnoff from High¬
way 301. Look sharp as you drive in.
That paved road is fairly new. and
follows pretty closely the original dirt
wagon-track that was spattered with
Yankee and rebel blood for three
March days of 1S65. Two miles cast
of Highway 701. you will sec the hand¬
some old Harper House, now the prop¬
erty of industrious Jake Dunn. Once
Confederate wounded filled its rooms,
so thickly they almost hid the floor.
Just beyond is the tapering pyramid
set up in 1894 by the Goldsboro Rifles
to honor 360 unknown soldier dead
of the Confederacy. Not quite two
miles farther west is the bronze plaque
installed in 1927 by the North Caro¬
lina Historical Commission and the
North Carolina Division of the United
Daughters of the Confederacy, ap¬
proximately at the point where less
than 20.000 troops in ragged gray de¬
fied 60.000 in blue. Along and across
the stretch of road you have just
travelled from the Harper House, the
high tide of battle raged all afternoon
of March 19. ninety-three years ago.
Keep going — there's a turnoff to the
left, and beyond this the crossing of
Mill Creek where a headlong hand¬
ful of Georgia. Texas and Tennessee
cavalry routed more than 20 times
their number of Sherman's infantry.
And when you reach the intersection
with another paved highway, going to
Bcntonvillc. you've left the battlefield.
A deep calm possesses the road and
the trees, the tobacco patches, the
gently trickling streams, the two little
communities of Bcntonvillc and Har¬
per. No echo of guns or rebel yells
hangs in the quiet air above the fields
where a thousand dead were spaded
under.
It is a lonesome and secluded spot,
and it was lonesome and secluded on
March 18, 1865, when Wade Hamp¬
ton. Joe Johnston's huge and capable
chief of cavalry, chose it for the strife
that must come.
Johnston had perhaps 14.000 in¬
fantrymen and 4,000 cavalry, besides
artillery and transport, and he had fled
all the way across Georgia, up through
South Carolina and now into North
Carolina, before the destroying hosts
of William Tccumsch Sherman. His
slender forces had notable command¬
ers. Besides Johnston himself, there
were two full generals of the Con¬
federacy — Pierre Gustave Touiant
Beauregard and Braxton Bragg. His
lieutenant-generals included William
Hardee. A. P. Stewart. Wade Hamp¬
ton. Daniel Harvey Hill and Stephen D.
Lee. Of major-generals there were
THE STATE. AUQUST 9, 195B
99
