Qualla: Battle of Bentonville

Battle of Bentonville: Introduction

Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Gerry Dincher from Hope Mills, NC, CC BY-SA 2.0. General Joseph E. Johnston knew the odds were impossible. By March 1865, his cobbled-together Army of the South numbered barely 21,000 men against William T. Sherman's 60,000-strong juggernaut marching north through the Carolinas. But faulty Confederate maps showed Sherman's two wings separated by a full day's march, and Johnston saw a sliver of opportunity. He would stake everything on one last gamble in the pine forests of Johnston County, North Carolina, near a crossroads village called Bentonville. What unfolded over three days in March became the last full-scale battle between the western armies of the Civil War, and the Confederacy's final attempt to halt Sherman's relentless advance.

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Image: Gerry Dincher from Hope Mills, NC | CC BY-SA 2.0

Battle of Bentonville: Sherman's Long Shadow

Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Unknown authorUnknown author or not provided, Public domain. Sherman had already burned a trail of devastation from Atlanta to Savannah during his March to the Sea, and by early 1865 he was carving northward through the Carolinas with the same ruthless efficiency. General-in-chief Ulysses S. Grant wanted Sherman to transport his forces to ...

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Image: Unknown authorUnknown author or not provided | Public domain

Battle of Bentonville: Three Days in the Pines

Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Necessary Evil at Danish Wikipedia, Public domain. Johnston's trap sprung on March 19 as Slocum's wing marched along the Goldsboro Road. The Confederates had arrayed themselves in a cunning formation: Robert Hoke's division faced west on the left, while Alexander P. Stewart's Army of Tennessee faced south on the right, forming an...

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Image: Necessary Evil at Danish Wikipedia | Public domain

Battle of Bentonville: A Father's Grief, A General's Regret

Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Necessary Evil at da.wikipedia, Public domain. The battle's most poignant and consequential moments came on March 21. Union Major General Joseph A. Mower requested permission for a "little reconnaissance" on the Confederate left flank. What he launched was a full assault with two brigades that drove deep into the Confederate ...

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Image: Necessary Evil at da.wikipedia | Public domain

Battle of Bentonville: The Last Grand Review

Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit DanTD, CC BY-SA 4.0. That night, Johnston withdrew across Mill Creek and burned the bridge behind him. The Union army did not detect the retreat until it was complete. Sherman chose not to pursue, continuing his march to Goldsboro instead. The Confederates had suffered nearly 2,600 casualties: 239 ki...

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Image: DanTD | CC BY-SA 4.0

Battle of Bentonville: What Remains at Bentonville

Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Nils Skudra, CC BY-SA 4.0. The battlefield is preserved today as the Bentonville Battleground State Historic Site, designated a National Historic Landmark in 1996. The park, founded in 1965, centers on the restored Harper House, a handsome 1850s farmstead that served as a Union field hospital during the fi...

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Image: Nils Skudra | CC BY-SA 4.0