War in North Carolina

With an army about half the size of the Union army, North Carolina's generals did their best to hold Union soldiers from devastating the state. After four years of fighting and hundreds of thousands of human losses, Fort Fisher fell on January 15, 1965, closing Wilmington and the Confederacy's last major blockade-running seaport. General William Sherman began his attack on North Carolina in February. President Davis chose General Joseph E. Johnston to lead North Carolina and Tennessee's armies, although he and Johnston had no love for each other. Johnston knew his armies did not have the strength to tackle Sherman's vast army, and at best he hoped for a compromise.

Even though Johnston eventually had the assistance of General Braxton Bragg and his North Carolina troops, at the battle of Averasboroughthe two armies reached only a stalemate with the Union army of Bvt. Maj. General Judson Kilpatrick and retreated.

After resting in Smithfield for several days, Johnston decided to attack Sherman's army as Sherman waited for reinforcements from General Schofield. However, both the Confederates and the Union armies had a disadvantage-the maps they possessed were long out of date, and both generals misjudged distances and access roads, cheating Johnston's army out of time that the general had anticipated they would have to prepare.

By the time Sherman's army arrived at Bentonville, the Confederates had not been waiting long. Johnston hoped his offensive would do two things: allow him time to evacuate his wounded and boost his army's sinking morale. However, after an intense attack by Sherman's army, Johnston's army sustained over 3,000 casualties, and Sherman finally halted the fighting. Johnston and his army retreated that night.

On April 11, 1865, Johnston received news that General Lee had surrendered to General Grant at Appomattox. Knowing that the Southern cause was all but lost, Johnston withheld the news from his men, intending to surrender to Sherman under good terms. Governor Zebulon Vance, who before this time had committed neither to continuing nor surrendering, decided to send a flag of truce to Sherman but ordered Johnston to evacuate Raleigh to prevent decimation of the city.

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Sources:
Harris, William C. North Carolina and the Coming of the Civil War. Raleigh: NC Dept of Cultural Resources, 1988.>

Bradley, Mark L. This Astounding Close: The Road to Bennett Place. Chapel Hill: The U of North Carolina P, 2000.