OLD BLUFF CHURCH
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The Muddy Road to Averashoro
CAROLLNAS CAMPAIGN
Tlie Cacinas Campaign begat on February 1, 1865. «hen Union Got. WSam T. Sherman led hb army north
from Saratnah, Georgia, after the ‘ttardi to the Sea." Sherman's objectne was to ioin Gen. Ulysses S. Grat in Virginia
to aush Gen. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Mrgria. Scattered Confederate forces consolidated in North Caofina,
the Confederacy's logbtical Heine.
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Sherman defeated Gen. Joseph L Johnston's last-ditch attack at
Bentomile. After Sierman was reinfaced at Goldsboro late it March, Johnston saw the futity of farther resistance
and surrendered on Apri 26, essentialy endirg the Cbi War.
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As Gen. WiKam T. Sierman marched north from Fayettenk, Gen. Joseph L Johnston positioned hb amy
near SmithfieJd, uncertain whether Sherman's destination was Raleigh or Gddsbero. On Mardi 15. 1865, the head
of Slier man's Left Wing struck Confederate Gen. WiKam J. Hardee's skanvshersguadng the road just
south of torasbora Hardee strudi bade, aid the fight began. After sererd bloody attads and couiterattacks,
Hardee withdrew dnirg the nght of Madi 16, and Sierman tuned towad Goldsboro.
This is the entrance to the Old Bluff Church
churchyard and cemetery. You are facing north,
in the direction in which the lead element of
Union Gen. William T. Sher¬
man’s Left Wing advanced
on March 14, 1865. For the
next two days, the wing’s
30,000 officers and men,
with their supplies and
equipment, passed by here
in the face of sporadic and
increasing Confederate
Gen. William T. Sherman
resistance. That resistance Library of Congress
culminated in the Battle of Averashoro on March
15-16 and the Battle of Bentonville on March 19-21.
Early on March 15, half a mile north along
the Fayetteville-Raleigh Stage Road, Confederate
cavalrymen skirmished with the Union vanguard
at Silver Run Creek and Mill Pond. Later, Sher¬
man established temporary headquarters there.
The rainy weather that week made the roadway
nearly impassable and the soldiers miserable.
Despite the terrible weather, at nightfall
on March 15, Union Col. William Hawley’s brigade
prepared for a hot meal and a night’s rest here
at Bluff Church after working all day corduroying
the road. At 7:30 p.m., however, the brigade was
called forward to assist the Union cavalry, which
was halted and engaged, as the Battle of Averas-
boro began. One of the soldiers described the
seven-mile trek to the battle site: “Men had their
shoes sucked off by the mud, while others stum¬
bled, lost their guns, and were thankful that they
were not trampled under by the moving column
and buried alive.”
Scottish immigrants formed
the first congregation here
in 1758. A century later, this
church building was con¬
structed, and it remained in
use until 1908. The present-
day Bluff Presbyterian
Church congregation, locat¬
ed in nearby Wade, main¬
tains the old church.
Jane "Janie" Smith (1846-1882)
is buried in the family plot here
in the church cemetery. The
daughter of Farquhard Smith
of Lebanon Plantation, which
served as a hospital during the
Battle of Averasboro, the teen-
aged girl wrote a detailed and
graphic description of the battle
and her family’s involvement.
