Battle of Bentonville

Battle of Bentonville
Part of the American Civil War
Battle of Bentonville, N.C., fought March 19th, 1865.
Date March 19, 1865 (1865-03-19) – March 21, 1865 (1865-03-21) Location Bentonville, North Carolina Result Union victory
Belligerents
United States (Union)	CSA (Confederacy)
Commanders and leaders
William T. Sherman	Joseph E. Johnston
Units involved
Army of the Tennessee Army of Georgia	Army of the South
Strength
60,000	21,900
Casualties and losses
1,527 total (194 killed, 1,112 wounded, 221 missing/captured)	2,606 total (239 killed, 1,694 wounded, 673 missing/captured)

The Battle of Bentonville (March 19–21, 1865) was fought in Bentonville, North Carolina, near the town of Four Oaks, as part of the Carolinas Campaign of the American Civil War. It was the last battle between the armies of Union Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman and Confederate Gen. Joseph E. Johnston.

As the right wing of Sherman's army under command of Maj. Gen. Oliver O. Howard marched toward Goldsborough, the left wing under command of Maj. Gen. H. W. Slocum encountered the entrenched men of Johnston's army. On the first day of the battle, the Confederates attacked the XIV Corps and routed two divisions, but the rest of Sherman's army defended its positions successfully. The next day, as Sherman sent reinforcements to the battlefield and expected Johnston to withdraw, only minor sporadic fighting occurred. On the third day, as skirmishing continued, the division of Maj. Gen. Joseph A. Mower followed a path into the Confederate rear and attacked. The Confederates were able to repulse the attack as Sherman ordered Mower back to connect with his own corps. Johnston elected to withdraw from the battlefield that night.

As a result of the overwhelming Union strength and the heavy casualties his army suffered in the battle, Johnston surrendered to Sherman little more than a month later at Bennett Place, near Durham Station. Coupled with Gen. Robert E. Lee's surrender earlier in April, Johnston's surrender represented the effective end of the war.

Following his March to the Sea, Major General William T. Sherman, commanding the Military Division of the Mississippi, turned his army northward through the Carolinas. The Union general in chief, Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant had ordered Sherman to bring his troops north to Virginia in order to battle the Army of Northern Virginia. However, Sherman argued that it would take too long to transport his troops there, and that his army could destroy Confederate supply lines to Petersburg and defeat Confederate forces by marching through the Carolinas. During the late winter and early spring of 1865, Sherman's army cut a swath of destruction through South Carolina. On March 8, Union soldiers crossed into North Carolina as Confederate units attempted to concentrate their forces to defeat the enemy during the march. Sherman divided his command into two parts, a Left Wing (the Army of Georgia) commanded by Maj. Gen. Henry W. Slocum and a Right Wing (the Army of the Tennessee) commanded by Maj. Gen. Oliver O. Howard. The two wings marched separately toward Goldsboro beginning on March 13, with no one in the Union command expecting major resistance from Johnston.