March 19, 1865 - March 21, 1865
	Forces	Losses
Union	0	1,646
Confederate	0	3,092
Total		4,738
Battle Location:
Campaign:  Campaign of the Carolinas
Theatre:
Winner:  Union
Maj. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman		Maj. Gen. Henry Warner Slocum
Union Commanders
Union Order of Battle
Gen. Joseph Eggleston Johnston
Confederate Commander
Confederate Order of Battle
Fought 25 miles southwest of Goldsboro, North Carolina, the battle of Bentonville was the largest battle ever fought in the state and the only significant attempt to arrest Union general William Tecumseh Sherman"s advance through the Carolinas in the spring of 1865. Sherman, having left Savannah, Georgia, with 60,000 troops in late January, moved north in two wings of approximately 30,000 men each. Facing little resistance as his army advanced through South Carolina, Sherman concluded that Confederate troops in the area were too widely scattered to pose any real threat to his operation. His goal was first to reach Goldsboro, North Carolina, and link up with Federal forces under Generals Alfred E. Terry and John M. Schofield advancing westward from the coast. Achieving that objective, Sherman would continue northward toward Petersburg, Virginia, to aid Ulysses S. Grant and his effort to crush Robert E. Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia. With the fall of Fort Fisher on 15 January and the subsequent evacuation of Wilmington, North Carolina, on 22 February, the last open port of the Confederacy and the last major supply line to Virginia were in Federal hands. Desperately hoping to forestall a juncture of Sherman and Grant, Lee called General Joseph E. Johnston out of retirement in Lincolnton, North Carolina, with instructions to "concentrate all available forces and drive back Sherman." While duty and honor swayed him to accept the charge, personally Johnston recognized the futility of the task. He embraced the command, he later wrote, in hopes of achieving "fair terms of peace." On 8 March, Sherman"s army entered North Carolina and concentrated on capturing Fayetteville. Confederate cavalry led by Lieutenant General Wade Hampton struck their Federal counterparts under Brigadier General Hugh Judson Kilpatrick at Monroe"s Crossroads on 10 March but were eventually driven back. Federal troops entered Fayetteville on 11 March and destroyed the arsenal and mills located in and around the city. Leaving Fayetteville on 15 March, Sherman"s next planned stop was Goldsboro, where he would find fresh troops and supplies and be linked by rail to the coast. While Sherman"s two wings continued moving northward, Johnston was busy assembling a fighting force out of four commands: the remnants of the Army of Tennessee under Lieutenant General Alexander P. Stewart; Major General Robert F. Hoke"s division from the defense of the North Carolina coast; Lieutenant General William J. Hardee"s corps from Georgia and South Carolina; and Hampton"s cavalry. Lacking sufficient numbers to engage Sherman"s entire army, Johnston"s hope was to concentrate his disparate troops at Smithfield, situated roughly midway between Goldsboro and the state capital of Raleigh, and then move to strike one of Sherman"s two wings at a point when each was beyond supporting distance of the other. Uncertainty over Sherman"s destination led Johnston to deploy Hardee"s 6,455 men near a road junction at Averasboro to determine if the Federal objective was Goldsboro or Raleigh. A brief but intense battle ensued on 16 March between Hardee"s command and elements of the Federal left wing under Major General Henry W. Slocum. Although Hardee eventually withdrew that evening toward Smithfield, the indecisive battle served to slow Slocum"s column, further separating it from Sherman"s right wing, which was advancing under the command of Major General Oliver Otis Howard. Johnston recognized that he now had the opportunity he had been looking for. Accordingly, on the evening of 18 March, the Confederate general began positioning his troops in the formation of a scythe-like trap across the Goldsboro Road at Willis Cole"s plantation near the community of Bentonville. The following morning, lead elements of Brigadier General William P. Carlin"s division of Slocum"s XIV Corps encountered Confederate troops as they were deploying. Expecting light resistance, Carlin"s men pressed on, only to discover entrenched Confederate troops concealed in the thick underbrush. Johnston launched an attack, smashing Carlin"s division, but was finally halted by a Federal counterattack led by Brigadier General William Cogswell. The two forces grappled with each other well into the evening until Johnston ordered a withdrawal back to his original position at the Cole plantation around midnight. Johnston"s plan for the following day was to establish a strong defensive perimeter while he removed his wounded to Srruthfield. The Confederate commander also hoped that the Federals would decide to attack, thereby giving Johnston a defensive advantage. On 20 March, while Johnston worked to extricate his wounded and waited for Sherman to attack, Howard"s column began to arrive on the field. The union of his two wings gave Sherman close to 60,000 men, three times the number of Johnston"s force before the battle. Yet Sherman chose to avoid a general engagement. On 21 March, a Federal reconnaissance of the Confederate left led by Brigadier General Joseph A. Mower wound up penetrating well into the Confederate rear and threatening Johnston"s only avenue of withdrawal: the bridge across flooded Mill Creek. Confederate infantry and cavalry managed to stem the advance and reestablish a perimeter, but Johnston knew that he could no longer afford to hold his ground at Bentonville. That night, guided by torchlight, the Confederate army abandoned its position and crossed over Mill Creek toward Smithfield. Sherman chose not to pursue, deciding instead to continue on to Goldsboro. The battle of Bentonville cost Johnston 240 killed, 1,700 wounded, and 1,500 missing. Sherman"s casualties were 194 killed, 1,112 wounded, and 221 missing. The message to Lee was clear. Ever mindful of the Confederate general-in-chief"s earlier directive to "drive back Sherman," Johnston wrote on March 23, "I can do no more than annoy him."
My Source:  Encyclopedia of the American Civil War — Alan C. Downs