March 7, 1865---"A strong Union party"

MARCH 7, 1865:        

Ray W. Potter of New York City patents the tintype.

 

General William Tecumseh Sherman and his rampaging army reach the northern border of South Carolina at Cheraw, on the Great Pee Dee River. He halts his force before crossing over into North Carolina to issue new Orders:

"All officers and soldiers of this command are reminded that the State of North Carolina was one of the last States that passed the ordinance of secession. And from the commencement of the war there has been in this State a strong union party...it should not be assumed that the inhabitants are enemies of our government, and it is to be hoped that every effort will be made to prevent any wanton destruction of property, or any unkind treatment of citizens."

North Carolina was in fact the last State to secede and join the Confederacy, and it has contributed more men to the Union cause than any other seceded State, excepting Tennessee (which sent more men north than south).

Most of the Tidewater Coast of North Carolina has been firmly in Union hands since 1862 at the latest, and the western, mountainous third of the State is so heavily pro-Union that Confederate recruiters lose their lives traveling there. Only central North Carolina --- the region Sherman plans to cross --- has a sizeable contingent of Confederates, mostly among its tobacco and cotton planters and among its slaveholding smallholders. Having used the stick in Georgia and the torch in South Carolina, Sherman believes that North Carolina can be won over with the carrot. The terrified Tarheels, having heard word of Sherman’s merciless degradation of South Carolina and Georgia, are shocked when his massive army marches into the State and proceeds northeastward in picture-book ranks.

Sherman has his depot at Wilmington, and does not need to forage for supplies. He knows his army of 80,000 is facing Joe Johnston’s army of 25,000 only a few miles across the State. He keeps his men organized and on high alert, ready for a fight.

For his part, General Joseph E. Johnston C.S.A. could be more ready, but he has no choice. Just as the grass begins to green, there is going to be a showdown amidst the rolling hills of North Carolina. Whether Johnston knows this is the endgame or not, it must be played out.