March 20, 1865---The Battle of Bentonville (Day Two)

MARCH 20, 1865:    

The Battle of Bentonville       (Day Two):

The sun rises on a very different battlefield at Bentonville. Overnight, a massive part of Sherman’s right wing (the Army of the Tennessee) has arrived to bolster the Army of Georgia. Joseph E. Johnston C.S.A.’s forces are outnumbered at better than three-to-one.

Realizing that he is badly overmatched, Johnston has spent the night realigning his troops into an easily-defensible “U” shape, with the open end pointing north, toward Mill Creek, and away from the Union lines. Sherman realistically expects Johnston to retreat; however, Johnston is making arrangements for his wounded. He is hoping too to lure Sherman into an ill-considered attack, much as had happened at Kennesaw Mountain back in June. Light skirmishing covers the entire field of battle all day, but nothing develops into a major exchange.

 

The Harper family's home was used as a Union field hospital after the battle. When the armies withdrew, 45 wounded Confederates were left behind in the Harpers' care, a not uncommon occurrence during the Civil War. Formal field hospitals were not the norm until World War I