Can i document type e sign confirmation of reservation or order tennessee
I'd like to welcome you all to
Gettysburg National Military Park my name is Philip Brown uh i'd like to
welcome you all to the one of the final installments of the winter lecture
series if you're paying attention to the schedule you probably saw that I'm
listed as being from Guilford Courthouse National Military Park which most of you
probably know that's a Revolutionary War battlefield you might be wondering what
the world is a Revolutionary War park ranger doing at Gettysburg well the
truth is that I'm also a ranger here at Gettysburg and some of you may have seen
me on some programs I've been working seasons here since 2012 so I spent my
summers here in Gettysburg with you all and my school years down in Greensboro
I'd like to welcome you to this program we're going to be talking about the
title suggest that how the Confederacy collapses in North Carolina in 1865 I've
titled the program to the brink of collapse the final campaign of the army
of Tennessee we're going to be talking about how first an army and then a
government and finally a people collapse from February to May of 1865 if this
program piques your interest I brought with me a few of the books that I've
based the program off of that I would recommend for further reading the first
book is the Confederate surrender at Greensboro the final days of the army of
Tennessee April 1865 this is written by Bert Dunkerley a fellow park ranger
currently and in Richmond also I have Mark Bradley's book last stand in the
Carolinas the Battle of Bentonville on this is a big thick book don't let the
title fool you this is not just a Bentonville book this covers a
blow-by-blow of everything leading up to Bentonville and the aftermath as well
from Sherman entering the state to the conclusion of the Battle of Bentonville
he wrote a follow-up book Mark Bradley this astounding closed the road to
Bennett place this covers where he left off in the previous book from
Bentonville to the end of the war in April of 1865 so again those three books
I really recommend you can talk to me more about the books of course after the
lecture if you so please before we dive into the meat of this program I want to
begin with a little bit of background information if you guys were here for
Bert Barnett's talk back in January he talked about Sherman moving
through South Carolina for you guys that were here this is going to be a little
bit of review but I want to make sure everybody ends up on the same page so
let's go back to South Carolina and talk about what has taken place this guy here
Pierre Gustav - Tom Beauregard has been put in charge of the defense of
South Carolina and he is facing a very challenging situation throughout his
time in South Carolina Sherman is constantly fainting first to the west
and then to the east and back and forth and Beauregard is not sure what he's
supposed to defend is he's supposed to defend more of the western part of the
state here in Augusta fearing that Sherman will head in that direction or
is he's supposed to defend the Charleston area over here what he
manages to do is he attempts to defend the entire state he only has less than
20,000 men to do so and as a result of trying to defend everything he will lose
everything and this really culminates with the fall
of the South Carolina capital of Columbia on February 17th 1865 with this
the majority the state of South Carolina is going to be lost to the Confederacy
in the aftermath of the fall of Columbia Beauregard is going to wire Davis with
this message he says should the enemy advance into North Carolina toward
Charlotte and Salisbury as is now almost certain I earnestly urge a concentration
in time of at least 35,000 infantry and artillery at latter point if possible to
give him battle there and crush him then to concentrate forces against grant and
then the marshal in Washington to dictate a piece Hardy and myself can
collect about 15,000 exclusive cheetahmen Stewart not likely to reach
in time if Lee and Bragg can furnish 20,000 more the fate of the Confederacy
would be secure not only is Beauregard counting on the concentration of an
extremely large force in North Carolina given the situation he is going to go
ahead and assume victory in North Carolina then victory against grant and
victory for the Confederacy as you guys have already seen this is somewhat of a
ludicrous idea given the situation in South Carolina
and North Carolina the note will be handed from Davis to Lee and Lee we'll
famously respond with something to the effect of he means well but the
resources are obviously lacking shortly after this note is pinned people are
going to begin to call for Bo regards replacements specifically they're going
to begin to call on Joseph Eggleston Johnston to retake command of the
Western theater of the Confederacy this call is going to come not only from
people in the military but the civilian population as well and even some in the
Confederate government but as you know Johnson and Davis don't have a great
relationship throughout most of the war so who is this guy Joseph Johnston he's
born in 1807 who else was born in 1807 Lee he graduates from West Point class
of 1829 who else graduates class of 1829 Lee
that's exactly right so he's going to graduate with Lee if not slightly behind
him of course in class rank the Lee and Johnston family though are not new to
one another when Lee and Johnston are at West Point together through the same
time their families to Johnston and the leaves actually date back in
relationship to the American Revolution many of you probably know that Lee's
father Light Horse Harry Lee commanded a Cavalry Regiment especially in the
southern campaign in the American Revolution well as it turns out there
was a man named Peter Johnston in that regiment and that happens to be Joseph
Johnston's father so these two people have actually had connections long
before their arrival at West Point they're of course going to fight
together at Guilford Courthouse where I'm coming to you guys from so it's a
neat little connection between the two parks today shortly after his graduation
from West Point is going to enter the United States Army when the civil war
begins he's going to side with the Confederacy and he will be commanding
the Confederate forces at the Battle of first Manassas where he is of course
victorious he's going to continue to command troops in Virginia all the way
up to and through the Peninsular campaign before his wounded in June of
1862 where he is replaced by his old classmate robert e lee he is
then going to be bounced around the Western theater holding various commands
at different times he's ultimately going to be removed from command of the army
of Tennessee just outside of Atlanta on July 7th 1864 after his removal from
command he will virtually retire to Columbia South Carolina not holding any
military command at all of course when that city Falls he will
retreat to the north and land in Lincolnton North Carolina which is a
small town just west of my hometown of Charlotte I want to get into some of the
situation that Johnston is about to encounter when he is ordered to take
command of all military forces of south he has specifically taken a command on
February 22nd 1865 under direct orders of robert e lee and he is going to
reluctantly take that command he was seen on a street side talking to a
civilian there in Lincolnton the lady was congratulating him on his new
command and Johnston apparently turned to the lady and said that he was afraid
he had just been given commanded an army just to be the general to surrender it
he knows that the situation is not very good that he's stepping into so what is
that situation we're going to be talking for just a moment about the troops that
he's going to inherit and where they are located throughout the south first of
all we have a small command under William Hardy he's known as old reliable
Hardy is a pretty famous guy in the Civil War he was the one who actually
designs Hardy's tactics which both the Confederate the Union Army are using as
their battalion drill and the manual of arms for both the Union and Confederate
sides by 1865 he's got about 12,000 men under his command he is a fairly able
commander on the battlefield though he like many Confederates gets caught up in
a political squabble and so he's going to be detached and he's going to be in
the Charleston area at the time of Johnson assumption of command next we
have another familiar face Daniel Harvey he'll maybe you probably know him from
his fighting here in the Eastern theater he's going to be with Lee all the way up
into just before Gettysburg when he has a tremendous falling out with Robert Ely
and he's going to shuffle it off to the western theater when Johnson takes him
and D H Hill is in Augusta Georgia with about 5,000 men under his command now
his men are not going to get involved in a lot of fighting that we talked about
but mr. Hill himself will so he's going to be there in Augusta Georgia next we
have Braxton Bragg one of more infamous commanders for the Confederate side of
the entire Civil War he commands somewhat of a motley crew of individuals
he has Robert F hoaxes Army of Northern Virginia division who are going to be
some of the best fighting men that we're going to see throughout this campaign
that's a full division of a and V veterans but then he also has a column
of naval forces that will be converting to infantry and marching on foot with
him everywhere he goes and then finally he's got the reserves of the state of
North Carolina specifically the North Carolina junior reserve and I think this
is a good time to take pause and think about what this war has become by
February of 1865 the junior reserves of North Carolina were organized in July of
1864 it's going to be comprised of 16 and 17 year old boys the state is trying
to come up with a way to farm in new recruits before they turn 18 and are
shipped off to the front so he's going to command a full brigade of these
junior reserves of 16 and 17 year old enlisted and boys with a and V and
Western theater veterans as their field officers this entire force is going to
be on the outskirts of Wilmington North Carolina
the bragg has just lost fort fisher in January of 1865 and he is now falling
back westward out of the Wilmington defenses headed towards the interior of
the state we also have a cavalry column under Wade Hampton Wade Hampton a famous
Gettysburg veteran he's got somewhere around 6,000 troopers he has been with
Hardy here in South Carolina trying to put together some type of defense of his
home state finally where in the world is the actual army of Tennessee the army of
Tennessee is really only an army in name at this point the only number about 4th
thousand five hundred men all total they're organized into three Corps
commanded by Alexander Stewart Stephen D Lee and Benjamin Cheatham they have
recently been defeated in the Battle of Nashville and they have fallen back out
of the Nashville area headed south and they are actually wintering in Tupelo
Mississippi throughout 1864 and in 1865 when Johnston takes command the army of
Tennessee is actually already in route headed east and they're going to go
through one of the most circuitous train rides of their lives as they're weaving
their way across the Lower South headed towards North Carolina again about four
thousand five hundred men this is the situation that Johnston inherits when he
takes command on February 22nd he's got troops numbering he thinks about 25,000
defectives but they are spread out all across the south and some of them are
ill-equipped in fact some of the returns I was looking at have as many as 1300
men in this force not having weapons of any kind some of the cavalry at this
point in the war actually riding in wagons and having to deploy and fight on
foot only being transported from place to place on this wagons many of them of
course also mounted on mules at this point in the war who is his opposition
well of course we have William Tecumseh Sherman following up on his victorious
for a through the state of South Carolina Sherman has about 60,000 men
under his direct control and they're organized into two armies and they have
departed the Savannah area just after Christmas moved towards Columbia
successfully taken that city and now are eyeing up North Carolina and they will
be headed off to the east the first army that he has there is the
army of the Tennessee Oliver Otis Howard of course the
Gettysburg 11th Corps commander he has under his command two infantry Corps the
15th Corps under John Logan he's known among his men as Black Jack
with his dark hair and his charcoal eyes he is a veteran commander
he actually has a very interesting early war history John Logan does believe in
art he was one of the civilians at the First Battle of Manassas watching the
combat unfold after Manassas he will return to Illinois and raised the 31st
Illinois history Infantry Regiment which is nicknamed the dirty first that tells
you anything about some of the men that he must have under his command there he
will rise through the ranks and be commanding the 15th Corps throughout
this campaign finally we have within the army the Tennessee the 17th Corps
commanded by Francis Blair Blair was known to have a sort of a wry sense of
humor at one point while they're on the march through South Carolina he is
riding on horseback when a southern woman comes up to him and she exclaims
to him about how his men were digging up her ground peas he apparently stroked
his beard a few times rock back in the saddle and then judiciously declared
well madam I don't think the peanuts will hurt my boys and then rode off
leaving her there on the roadside the other army under Sherman's command is
the army of Georgia commanded by another Gettysburg familiar face Henry Slocombe
the 12th Corps commander here at Gettysburg the army of Georgia is going
to be made up of the 20th Corps commanded by Alphaeus Williams Williams
of course was a division commander here in Gettysburg and in fact the 20th Corps
is actually the eleventh and twelfth Corps combined and sent into the Western
theater so this is a corps of almost all Gettysburg veterans by this point
additionally we have Jefferson Davis who probably has the most unfortunate name
in the entire Union Army Jefferson Davis commands the fourteenth
Corps in the army of Georgia he was known as a military tyrant who
apparently was pretty liberal with the swear words and you can see how that
might mix with other personalities like Oliver Otis Howard the religious general
additional forces under Sherman's control is a cavalry column under Judson
Kilpatrick Kilpatrick of course is at this point sporting the nickname kill
calf for his actions at battles like Gettysburg
who ordered the cavalry charge of the Union Army on July 3rd that results in
the death of Ilana Farnsworth he also has a nickname little kill because he is
fairly young and small in stature when I was doing research for this program and
it really all throughout my readings of Judson Kilpatrick often wondered whether
or not kill calves and little kill were accurate nicknames to give a man like
Judson Kilpatrick and in fact my suspicions were confirmed when I read a
quote from Sherman just before he stepped off on the march to the sea he
wrote to someone and he said I know that Kilpatrick is a hell of a damn fool but
that is just the man I want commanding my cavalry column on this expedition in
addition to all these forces we've outlined so far we have another force
under John Schofield John Schofield actually commands two infantry Corps of
his own they have just taken Fort Fisher but they're separated from Sherman by a
couple of hundred miles all total the forces total up to about a hundred
thousand men that Sherman has at his disposal to bring to bear against
Johnston's twenty-five to thirty thousand again I want to take a step
back and get you guys to try to appreciate the challenge that Joseph
Johnston faces with his men spread across the south
an army of 60,000 cutting through South Carolina and another force of 40,000 at
Wilmington ready to make its way inland and Johnson is beginning to wonder what
exactly he should do he writes to Richmond and he tells them that he
doesn't think that he can really stop Sherman but he hopes that he can
possibly delay him to try to by Lee time in Virginia as he is pouring over maps
of the state of North Carolina he's specifically going to take a look at
some of the railroad maps those are those railroad maps are going to help
him determine where he is going to be able to and where he should concentrate
his forces at first he's going to think that the City of Charlotte is a good
idea because he thought that Sherman was going to head west and then he thinks
maybe Greensboro then he moves to Fayetteville and eventually he
decides to send his men to a small area a town of Smithfield North Carolina
located on the rail line now I know this map isn't great you're not be able to
read the names but this is Smithfield Fayetteville is down here and this is
the railroad junction at Goldsboro and this is a very important thing that
Johnston has in mind he recognized that Sherman is going to be coming into North
Carolina from the south and he knows for a fact Schofield is going to come inland
and he realizes that Goldsboro is a likely concentration point of the Union
forces so he wants to put his men in a position where they can operate against
Goldsboro but not be in Goldsboro where they can be converged upon from two
different directions meanwhile Sherman is going to do exactly that Sherman is
going to instruct Schofield to leave the Wilmington area and immediately make his
way to Gould bro it's important to keep in mind that this is going to take
Schofield a very long time in the grand scheme of things to make this Trek
because as Braxton Bragg is retreating he is tearing up railroad track and as
Schofield is advancing his building railroad track so this is actually going
to take a long time to move through this part of North Carolina shortly after
their arrival truly excuse me shortly after these
plans are laid with Johnston and Sherman fighting is going to erupt across the
state of North Carolina a series of small battles will take place as these
two men work towards their individual goals and aims the first major combat to
take place in the state is the Battle of wise forks also known in the state of
North Carolina is the Battle of Kinston that's what I grew up knowing and asked
this took place from March 7th through 10th 1865 this is Braxton Bragg trying
to slow Schofield this takes place just west of the city of Wilmington as
Braxton Bragg is falling back he's instructed to try to buy some time for
Johnston to concentrate his men and so he will lay trenches across the railroad
leading the Goldsboro and allow the Federal Army to attack him and he's
actually going to be fairly successful if you consider all the things that are
coming at him he's going to delay Scofield advanced by
about three days fighting from the 7th to the 10th of 1865 next Oh as wise
Forks is wrapping up is the Battle of Monroe's crossroads I look at this as
sort of a comical battle in many ways of course there are men that are being hurt
and killed in this action but from a strategic and operational level it's
kind of comical what happens is Wade Hampton attempts to personally capture
Judson Kilpatrick he sees Judson Kilpatrick's headquarters as being a
vulnerable spot and he's going to try to capture the cavalry commander himself
all of this takes place within the confines of what is today Fort Bragg in
Fayetteville North Carolina he comes pretty close to capturing Kilpatrick
Kilpatrick apparently had to rush out the door grabbing what he could as he
left ran to a bar and mounted a horse with his escort and escaped just in time
and in true Confederate and Union form what happens is the Union Army forms a
counter-attack just in time to wipe Wade Hampton off of the battlefield so he's
going to be stopped in his tracks in trying to a capture Judson Kilpatrick
the next major fighting and this is really the big one out of these three
more minor battles takes place on March 16 1865 to put you in the mindset of
what takes place here Hardy's core has arrived up from South Carolina into the
state of North Carolina and they have attempted to lay a defense to slow down
Sherman's advancing column and this is going to be the first real outbreak of
fighting between the main part of Sherman's marching column and the
Confederate forces in North Carolina Hardy attempts to put together an attack
followed up by a defense in depth where he organizes three Confederate battle
lines unfortunately for him though the advancing federal column managed to
break all three of those battle lines now these were all minor battles as I
started out but it's important to keep in mind these are all extremely costly
engagements you can see from the casualty numbers the Confederates are
really suffering if you consider how much they've brought as a percentage of
their army they can't afford to lose fifteen hundred men
in one delaying action in the aftermath of this fighting Johnston begins to
think about what he can do he realizes that if he continues to fight these
small actions he's going to be sapped away bit by bit and eventually he's not
going to have an army to do anything with but if he falls back he'll simply
lose the state of North Carolina so that's not a good option either Johnston
sort of throws off the world by going on the offensive following the Battle of a
verse burrow and he's going to decide the best thing for him to do is to
attack the Union Army with a larger force he's looking at the maps and he's
gathering all types of intelligence and he's thinking that the Federal Army is
spread out he's going to see the army of Georgia and the army of the Tennessee
are about day's march apart in their tracks north meanwhile his force is now
concentrated at Smithfield so he's going to decide that he's going to lay an
attack for the advancing Union forces this map is going to show you guys where
all that fighting took place this was the area of Weis Forks we have the
Monroe's crossroads battlefield avers burrow and now this is going to be the
next point where Johnston is going to decide to attack the Union forces it's
important to keep in mind the larger picture here and what's going on the
Confederacy Johnston is doing the best he can to keep the state North Carolina
state capital of Raleigh out of the federal hands but he's also been
instructed to protect any rail lines that lead north because all the rail
lines that lead north through North Carolina are supplying Lee's army in
Virginia so he sort of has a two-fold objective here in protecting the state
of North Carolina but also the supply lines that Lee has going into Virginia
his plan for the end of march is to fight this battle near Bentonville what
he decides to do is take his veteran division under Robert F Hoke and lay
them across the northern roads that lead to Goldsboro eventually this is all
around the area of Bentonville Moore Carolina so he's going to lay his
veteran division in defense across the road and then he is going to take the
army of Tennessee which has just arrived from the West and they are going to
directly attack the flank of the advancing Union Army this is actually a
classic Confederate hammer and anvil attack of holding the Union force in
place with a blocking unit and then hitting in their flank with another fighting will erupted on the morning of
March 19th they're in Bentonville when a union foraging party stumbles into a
clearing and encounters the skirmish line of the Confederate Army those
foragers have been told not to expect any concentration of Confederates and in
fact if you do encounter any Confederate soldiers you have direct instructions to
outflank them sweep them from the road and continue forward they stumble into a
clearing and one of the Union soldiers remembers looking left and right and all
he could see for as far as the horizon went were spades in the air throwing
earth over their head because the Confederates are entrenching here in
this clearing there's a moment of confusion there's a brief pause as the
two sides look at one another then the Confederates snatch up their rifles and
begin to fire at the foraging party that is now advanced into their killing field
the forgers are going to begin to slip off to the right and trying to find the
flank they've got instructions to outflank the Confederates and push them
from the road as they move farther and farther to the right they realize this
battle line is pretty long it eventually they call up some support and more and
more brigades are eventually fed into this fight as they attempt to sweep them
from the side does this sound familiar to you guys at all does July 1st 1863
ring true in this situation Sherman is nowhere near the battlefield he is
actually with his right wing trying to get closer to Scofield they're in
Wilmington so he's not here to manage this fight and instead brigades are
going to be sort of fed in pell-mell as more troops arrive on the battlefield
eventually the army of Tennessee is going to make their attack after they
have been hell after the Union forces had been held in place there along the
Goldsboro Road and one of the junior reservists and in this battle the
reservists were held in reserve on march 19th but they had a really good vantage
point they were able to watch the veterans there were much older than them
going to the fight one of the reservists Walter Clark remembered it looked like a
picture at our distance was truly beautiful several officers led the
charge on horseback across an open field in full view with colors flying and line
of battle in such perfect order as to be able to distinguish the several field
officers in proper place and followed by a battery which dashed at full gallop
wheeled unlimbered and opened fire it was gallantly done but it was painful to
see how close their battle flags work together regiments being scarcely larger
than companies and divisions much more not much larger than our regiment should
be the army of Tennessee will slam into the flank of the Union soldiers that
have managed to get there by the afternoon of March 19th and they're
actually going to have a great deal of success they're going to stun the Union
soldiers on the battlefield and they're going to do all but cut off an entire
division and surround them but you got to keep in mind what walter clark was
talking about how close together the battle flags were these regiments some
of them don't number more than 50 or 60 men in the army of Tennessee the attack
doesn't really have the clout that it should be nevertheless it was a hot
fight in fact one of the Union soldiers would later recall I was there at
Bentonville with a regiment that it faced Beauregard at Shiloh and Bragg at
Stone's River that it participated in nearly every battle of the army of the
Cumberland we had taken a hand in the terrible assaults at Kennesaw Mountain
and Jonesboro but for desperate valor on the part of the rebels and for a
desperate resistance and a determination to whip them on the part of our men we
saw nothing in four years of army life - compared to the 19th of March at
Bentonville the fighting on the 19th of Mar
Church will die down by midnight as the Confederate attack sputters to a halt as
the coordination and organizations fall to pieces and more and more Union
soldiers arrive on the field they realize that they don't have what it
takes to break the Union Army the following day on March 20th will be a
fairly interesting day in terms of the Battle of Bentonville there's not a
whole lot of fighting there's a lot of heavy skirmishing throughout the day on
March 20th but what Johnston is mainly concerned with is more or less circling
the wagons as this illustration presents now I know the colors are a little bit
fault blended together here but the Confederates are organizing in sort of a
circular fashion right here and they're going to dig in using the terrain the
best they can throughout the day on march 20th meanwhile more and more Union
soldiers arrive throughout the day in fact arriving on the battlefield will be
Oliver Otis Howard he is marching to the support of Henry Slocombe their
Gettysburg relationships have reversed whereas here Slocum marched to the
support of Howard now at bentonville Howard will march to the support of
Slocum and in fact Howard would later remember the irony of this I've been a
little impatient with Slocum the first at Gettysburg he thought that general
Meade did not want an affair Bronagh at Gettysburg but desired the battle at
pipe Clay Creek so but slowly answered my call at Bentonville I thought I would
get even with him I received word that Slocum was in trouble so I immediately
turned Hazen's division whose rear was pretty near to the right about and
hasten to his support and he gives credit for it in his report so easy so
as we say in the game of draughts I had my revenge throughout the day on March
20th more and more Union soldiers will arrive on the field and they're going to
extend their lines off to the right at the same time Johnson once again will
begin to bend his lines back and heavily entrench
Johnston is actually hoping that Sherman will commit an error and commit a full
frontal assault on his works but Sherman of course will not give
that pleasure instead by the night of March 20th Sherman has decided that he
will disengage at bentonville Sherman realizes that he has met the enemy on
the battlefield Joe Johnston and just in this fight on March 19th he knows that
he can easily beat him but at the same time he realizes if I can easily beat
him why waste the bloodshed this is one of Sherman's more humanitarian moments
at the war he's going to decide to disengage give the Confederates a
tactical victory and simply march around them to try to avoid direct conflict and
march towards Goldsboro we can concentrate his forces in order to do
this he's going to need to find out exactly where that Confederate flank is
how can he go around the Confederates without knowing where the end of their
line is so he will begin to extend more and more off to the right to try to head
north towards Goldsboro and to do this there are going to be several divisions
deployed and this is going to bring us to this guy here Joseph Mauer Joseph
Mauer was 37 years old at the time of the Battle of Bentonville his first army
career actually was from 1846 to 1847 war after the Mexican Wars conclusion he
will leave the military only to find that civilian life was not suiting for
his personality and re-entered the military in 1855 when the war breaks out
he's going to organize in command the 11th Missouri he will raise rise to
Brigade command and his brigade will be known as mauers guerrillas he is known
to be a daredevil in combat Mauer was really Sherman's kind of guy now or
didn't want to be on the main front battle line he wanted to be on the
skirmish line where he can be out in front command against men where he can
be out there collecting immediate information and organizing any of the
attacks there was actually a saying in the Union Army that if you were assigned
to mauers staff you had better go write your will because he was constantly
dragging his staff into the thick of on that when these men are in South
Carolina Maur did not want to again stay in the
comforts of a nice headquarters when they're waiting through bodies of water
like the Saki Hachi River now we're seen right there with his men
waist-deep in the water the next morning as he's breaking icicles off of the
tails of his coat he allegedly handed one of his regimental commanders a flask
and told him I want to share a drink with a man willing to ride as far into
hell as I am he was a real daredevil in combat Sherman for whatever reason is
going to turn to this daredevil and tell him to recognize of the Union Army or
where as the left of the Confederate if you reverse that malar is going to
happily take those orders returned to his division and turn them on their head
what malar actually organizes is a two brigade attack on the Confederate line a
reconnaissance in force another term we have here at Gettysburg now where
happens to slam right into a soft spot in the Confederate line it just so
happens that his brigades as they advance forward off of the Confederate
right slam into a swamp they charge straight through the swamp and as they
emerge on the other side the lead regiment is the 64th Illinois who
happens to be armed exclusively with Henry repeating rifles at this point in
the war the Henry rifle of course with its 13 shot magazine and it's brass
contained cartridge the soldiers could fire quickly as they could work the
lever as they advance forward they slam into the Confederate line they disperse
the Confederate troops in the area next up they steamroll Joseph Johnston's
headquarters Johnson has seen fleeing on foot from the scene with both his staff
and its personal escort however this attack it should have been
a reconnaissance is uncoordinated of course it's uncoordinated
there's no supports there's no division level artillery going to come to their
support there's no cavalry watching their wings
and these two brigades of infantry eventually Lou
is there a momentum and right as they lose their momentum there's going to be
a Confederate counter-attack organized and they're eventually going to be
pushed back however what both sides don't actually realize Joseph johnstun
and Sherman included on the other side is that they've come within a hair's
breadth of ruining the Confederate Army once and for all at Bentonville this
attack off of the federal right flank is pushed forward and they have come very
close to cutting the Mill Creek Bridge which is just off the map here in the
top left corner what this map doesn't show you guys is that Mill Creek ran
right along behind the entire Confederate position recent rains have
swollen this small Creek to be impassable if the Union Army had
continued forward maybe just another quarter mile or so they would have cut
the Mill Creek bridge and completely pinned Johnston in place it's likely
that the war would have ended in North Carolina right there on March 21st 1865
Sherman hears about this attack and he actually calls back now remember Sherman
wants to simply march around the Confederate Army so he's going to call
now or back and in hindsight he's going to realize how close he was to cutting
the bridge and Sherman would write that it was one of the regrets he had of the
war not allowing Maur to continue forward or committing more Mendham hours
assault to cut the bridge the fighting will wound down wind down there
the night of the 21st of March Johnston realizes that he has put his army in a
very vulnerable position now or helped him learn that more or less by
overrunning his headquarters and nearly cutting the bridge and so the night of
21st into the early morning hours of the 22nd Johnston will withdraw his men over
the Mill Creek bridge and back towards Smithfield North Carolina as you can see
on this slide it was a very costly battle for both sides not costly in
numbers when we compare it to Gettysburg but I want you guys to sit and think
about when this takes place March 19th 20th and 21st 1865 is the war virtually
over is at a predetermined course at this point
some would argue probably yes so for what reason that the men need to die on
this slide after the Confederates leave the
Bentonville area they're going to fall back to Smithfield where they are going
to go through a much-needed reorganization in consolidation he knows
that Sherman is going to continue to Goldsboro and Sherman does just that he
continues on north to Goldsboro he unites with Schofield and now Sherman
has a hundred thousand men United in one force in the state of North Carolina
Johnston there in Smithfield like I said is going to consolidate the army and I
think these few statistics that I'm pulling from Burt dunkerley's book
really illustrate the state of things in the Confederate Army
throughout this consolidation and reorganization the army reduced 30
batteries of artillery to ten eleven Arkansas regiments were consolidated
into one seven Florida regiments became one eight Texas regiments were merged
into one and most astonishingly 39 Tennessee regiments were consolidated
into four men that have marched together for nearly four years under one battle
flag and marching under that one name those units are going to cease to exist
the battle flags will be rolled up never to be waved on the field of battle again
this was an extremely demoralizing action taken by Johnston his the men
their spirits immediately drop they no longer have any cohesion in their units
and morale is really just going to plummet but it's a measure that Johnson
has to take he realizes it's very inefficient issue thirty-nine orders to
39 Tennessee regiments when they could be merged into four and it makes moving
on the road much easier and moving on the road is exactly what Johnston is
thinking about Johnston realizes that he cannot stop Sherman with a hundred
thousand men now in the state he only having less than 25 and they're dropping
every day from desertion rates and so he is going to begin to move
of West just trying to slow down Sherman here and there if he can but now really
throwing up any type of opposition they're going to enter Raleigh in early
April and the citizens of Raleigh immediately realize that this
Confederate Army is not going to stop here and defend the city this
Confederate Army is just passing through in their Trek to the western part of the
state it was said that the civilians of Raleigh closed their doors shuttered
their windows and would not turn in face the Confederates as they pass through in
shame of their retreat as they pass through the City of Raleigh the state
government realizes that the Army is on the retreat and they're going to hear
from Johnston that they're not stopping to defend the city and that's going to
compel the state government to pack up and leave and as they exited the western
part of Raleigh North Carolina you would have seen the marching demoralized
columns of the army of Tennessee followed by the rest of the commands the
artillery the cavalry and then the state governments wagons all their archives
and paperwork that they're trying to save would be in line they're marching
with the Confederate they're eventually going to make their way to the halt
river the halt river is a body of water just west of Raleigh and in trying to
cross it they realize that they're almost pinned the whole river has been
swollen from the rains and I just want to pause here for a moment again it
illustrates the state of the army as they're trying to cross the hall river
wagons are being swept away and men are beginning to refuse to even enter the
waters rather being left behind to the Yankees
than to enter the river the junior reserves approach the body of water a
couple of them step in and they're swept away the water going up over there 15 16
and 17-year old heads one of the officers of the junior reserves was seen
standing out in the middle of the river virtually handing reservists across as
they're trying to get away from the advancing Union Army as they're making
their way across the western part of the state this man is in line marching over
the Confederates is of course is Zebulon Vance the governor of the state of North
Carolina he was a part of what was probably one
of when the more comical incidences in this retreat to the west as he's passing
by the eighth North Carolina the eighth North Carolina soldiers yell at to him
governor Vance where are you going and Vance looked down from his horse and
responded I'm headed to the western part of the state to prepare a spout for you
all to go up as if he was some type of magician that could create a portal for
them to go through and escape the advancing Union Army the Union Army now
is in full march they have left Goldsboro after taking several days rest
the Union Army when they get to gold for it's the first time they're really able
to resupply since the Christmas time era and their departure from Savannah
they've been on the road since then so Goldsboro broth and much-needed supplies
up the rail lines as well as the Cape Fear River coming in from the coast also
on the March johnston is conferring with many of his officers in the state of
affairs one of them being thomas Clingman Clingman will talk to johnston
about the commitment of the Confederate soldier and the state of the army clean
men of course is somewhat detached from reality as you can tell from this quote
Kleeman told Johnson sir much has been said about dying in the last ditch you
have left with you here 30,000 of his brave men as the Sun ever shone upon let
us take our stand here and fight the two armies of Grant and Sherman to the end
and thus show to the world how far we can surpass the Thermopylae of the
Greeks Johnston turned in the saddle looked at Clingman and said I'm not in
the Thermopylae business part of Johnston's mood was spurned on by the
receiving of this note can anybody here decode the note this of course an
encoded message sent to him from the Richmond area if you knew the code you
would know that this is the note that informs Johnston of Lee's surrender this
is the way in which he receives that news in the note the Confederate
official from Richmond states that it a rumor that Lee has surrendered were
waiting on official work because Lee of course has been detached from quite some
time on the retreat west following his reception of this note Johnston is also
going to receive word to meet Jefferson Davis in Greensboro North Carolina of
course Jefferson Davis has left Richmond on April 2nd the capital the Confederacy
has been on the road more or less in Danville Virginia for a few days and
then eventually they're going to move south again towards Greensboro and this
will bring us to the small town of Greensboro North Carolina Greensboro had
about 2,000 people living in the town at the time of the civil war it is sort of
an agricultural town the ground is pretty good for both corn and tobacco in
the area but Greensboro is real importance is a transportation hub
another familiar thing we have here in Gettysburg there are a number of roads
that come in and out of the city of Greensboro but mainly there are several
rail lines that come in and out of this city and in fact Greensboro is home to
the only rail line that feeds Lee's army beginning in September of 1864 so it's
going to be a very very important town to the Confederacy as a whole the war
doesn't really touch the city of Greensboro in any dramatic way until the
Battle of Bentonville shortly after the fighting begins on March 19th wounded
soldiers will begin to arrive in the city of Greensboro by rail and they will
be unloaded and taken to every available public space and eventually the private
property as well one of the soldiers his name is Arthur Ford remembers his time
in Greensboro after being wounded in bentonville we reach Greensboro at dark
making 90 miles run in ten hours very good for the speed of railroad
railway trains at the time at Greensboro the courthouse was used as a hospital
all the benches desks etc being removed we had no mattresses nor bedding of any
kind and about 200 of us were laid often rows on the floor with only our
own blankets you can imagine the condition of those blankets haven't been
on the March for quite some time at this point after looking over the Kama
Dacians I selected the platform inside of the rail where the judges desk used
to be from my place and I went out into the street and begged an arm full of hay
from a wagon and with two bricks for a pillow made my bed here I lay for about
three weeks with fever and at times really very ill three times a day the
ladies of the town came and brought us food and were devoted in their
attentions not only as Greensboro going to be flooded with wounded soldiers from
the combat in the eastern part of the state
eventually parolees from Lee's army headed south begin to arrive in the city
of Greensboro and eventually the marching columns of Johnston's army
converged on the city of Greensboro the people of the city begin to realize that
all law and order is breaking down it's very apparent that Lee has surrendered
to the civilians of Greensboro it's very apparent that Johnston Army is not going
to put up any fight and eventually barrels of whiskey or draw out onto the
sidewalk their heads are knocked in and it was said that the streets ran with
whiskey tobacco lay around in piles where men could help themselves to it
because it's a major railroad hub there are warehouses full of supplies bolts of
cloth necessary goods salted pork sugar things that the civilians of Greensboro
have been denied now for some time they're going to realize that these
stores are not very well guarded and eventually a mob will descend on the
streets of Greensboro the scene that you're looking at right now would have
been scenes of this chaos this is an image of that courthouse building you
won't be able to see this in Greensboro today it's the site of the Jefferson
standard building located in downtown Greensboro these are these are some of
those warehouse areas that the mob descends on eventually the Confederate
officers that are present realize that something must be done
and they're going to dispatch a very small motley brigade of Confederates to
disperse the crowd men that are still in the rank-and-file army of Tennessee
these men specifically are old veterans of lanes brigade here at Gettysburg and
courses Brigade which fights much of the Overland campaign and I often think
about the experience of these men in the Civil War they fought at places like
Fredericksburg Chancellorsville Gettysburg the Overland campaign
including the Wilderness Spotsylvania courthouse and Cold Harbor they have
seen some of the worst fighting that any American has seen at this point they
have been through campaigns that we will later look back on as being some of the
most severe of the American Civil War and the last shots that these men fire
of all that combat are going to be into a mob of southerners as they arrive on
the streets they level their muskets because they're receiving fire from the
mob and fire into it the exact numbers of civilians that are killed or wounded
as well as the parolees and the deserted men from the army of Tennessee is
unclear it was never recorded but reportedly saddles were emptied of some
of the paroled cavalry men Johnston arrives in the city of Greensboro
and he's instructed to have a meeting Davis has his entire cabinet on hand
except for John C Breckinridge the Secretary of War Beauregard is going to
be present Beauregard has been sent ahead of Johnston actually to the city
and then Joseph Johnson himself will arrive they're going to meet in the
house that you see there in the background of this slide and they're
going to discuss the state of things Davis apparently at this point has
become totally detached from reality this is April 12th 1865 Lee has
definitely surrendered the war is all but to an end and Davis was apparently
refusing to make eye contact with anybody in the room nervously folding
back and forth a sheet of paper and rambling on and on about the
concentrations of forces in North Carolina and rallying the troops
gathering the deserters forcing men into the ranks and stopping Sherman
defeating grant much like Beauregard had been talking about the end of February
after the meeting the evening of the 12th Beauregard and Johnston meet in an
alleyway and they agree that Davis must be convinced that the war is over that
all hope has been lost the next day they're going to meet once again now the
Secretary of War has arrived with official word that satisfied Davis that
Lee has in fact surrendered Johnston and Beauregard are going to convince Davis
that the war is over and that they must sit down and figure out some type of
peace terms with Sherman Davis will reluctantly agree and allow Johnston to
seek a peace with Sherman of some type these two men are going to meet Johnston
and Sherman on three different occasions the first meeting being on April 17th
the two men enter the house and to begin the meeting
Sherman hands Johnston the telegram informing Sherman that Lee Lincoln has
been assassinated what a way to start a meeting they're eventually going to
agree on some terms and believe it or not Sherman is fairly lenient on
Johnston these this is actually the only time in which two military officials
really sit down and discuss what reconstruction is going to look like
they agree to peace terms they're on April 17th that have all types of
concessions for the Confederate politicians the officers and the
generals that have commanded the troops in the field they're going to assign the
papers and depart Sherman of course is going to tell Johnson I just have to get
approval from Washington on these terms and it's going to send those terms off
to Washington as soon as they make their way up there to the Capitol the
politicians are going to lose it and they're going to basically argue
that those terms have got to be thrown out and we've got to have a more strict
terms on the Confederates someone has to be held accountable for
what's just happening the American Civil War they're also going to send ulysses s
grant to Raleigh they're going to tell grant that you've got to manage this
got to look after Sherman and make sure he does what we need him to do Johnston
will be informed sometime around April 23rd that those peace terms have been
rejected by Washington Johnston will wire Davis and tell Davis that they've
been rejected and it looks like it they're going to be hard on the
politicians and the generals and this is going to turn into a nasty political
situation after the war Davis tells Johnston in a telegram to break off
negotiations with Sherman break the army into small pieces and forward them to
Texas where they will meet me and we will continue the war Johnston has been
a military man his entire life West Point class of 1829 United States
military service service throughout the Civil War commanding armies in both
theaters of war and his last autonomous act as a military general under his own
command he will deliberately disobey the orders of Jefferson Davis he will refuse
to break that army up and send them to Texas he is willing to sit down with
Sherman and agree to whatever terms Sherman brings before him they're going
to meet there in Bennett place on April 26 and sign a final peace agreement that
is almost identical to the Lee and grant surrender at Appomattox what's left is
to have the men go home and they're going to go home out of this army in
more of a piecemeal fashion there's not going to be the pomp and circumstance of
parades and ceremonies of stacking of arms and going face-to-face with Union
soldiers the Confederate Army of the West is scattered all across the state
of North Carolina they're going to lay down their arms in small bands here and
there and they're going to begin to make their way home having been given a day's
rations and a piece of silver and often think about what this journey home must
have been like what is it like to have to walk all the way home after four
years of war walking in small groups of 15 to 20 men what are some of the things
that you're able to think about what are you expect
thing when you get home and as you go down the road a few men peel off here in
this town a few men peel off in this town until it's just you walking alone
one soldier who made an 1800 mile trip to the interior of Texas that lasted six
weeks would later write about this feeling he said men who have stood by
each other in times of danger men who have endured the hardships of
the Confederate war together men who have marched eaten slept laughed
sung cried and in fact soldiered together all through the war are now
separating perhaps for life never to see each other again ah but the prospects of
seeing all the loved ones at home is uppermost in our minds and we are in a
hurry to separate like to thank you all for coming out this afternoon I'll be
around here for questions if you don't have any please enjoy the rest of your
day you you
