March 8, 1865---The Battle of Wyse Fork, N.C.

MARCH 8, 1865:      

 The Battle of Wyse Fork (The Second Battle of Kinston):

Although it has long been William Tecumseh Sherman’s intention to march across North Carolina into Virginia and act as the second jaw of the vise that will crush the life out of The Army of Northern Virginia, conditions in the Eastern Theatre have changed. In a matter of less than two weeks, Joe Johnston has turned a worrisome pack of armed men in central North Carolina into a threatening army standing athwart Sherman’s route.

Sherman, for his part, is not worried about the seeming coming battle. His men are primed for a brawl and they outnumber Johnston’s forces at better than 3:1. They are well-fed and rested and armed to the teeth, something that cannot be said of Johnston’s men.  They have esprit de corps.  

Sherman is not fooling himself. He has seen Confederate esprit rise like a phoenix from the ashes too many times to be sanguine about his chances with Johnston. There is always a chance of defeat.

Ironically enough, the two men think alike.

Well east of Sherman’s inland route, Braxton Bragg is moving his troops north as he has since the fall of Wilmington. Sherman is concerned that Bragg’s force (which was supposed to have joined with Johnston’s) may just do that. Given that Johnston and Bragg cordially hate one another, a divided Confederate command may be to Sherman’s favor, but he doesn’t like Bragg wandering around in odd corners while he must needs keep his eye on Johnston.

Sherman orders forces out of Wilmington to take on Bragg’s contingent. 12,000 Union men are dispatched to break Bragg’s force of 8,500. The two forces meet at Wyse Fork on Southwest Creek near the town of Kinston, and Sherman’s concerns about Confederate esprit are proven in action.

Bragg is holding the crossroads to Goldsboro, a position which will let him fall on Sherman’s flank once the U.S. Army is in range. Robert F. Hoke, who so valiantly defended Wilmington before being ordered to withdraw, is leading North Carolina regiments, and they fight like furies when confronted by the Union force from Wilmington. An entire Union regiment is destroyed, and then another, and the battle hangs in the balance. But the Confederates have no reserves, while a call to Wilmington brings the entire Union XXIII Corps to the area.

Bragg cannot hope to hold against such numbers and after remaining in the area for several more days to demonstrate and skirmish, he withdraws. The Union loses 1,100 men in the battle. The Confederacy loses 1,500. Bragg is left with only 7,000 troops at the end of the Battle of Wyse Fork.