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.
