buddy56
Cadet
- Joined
- Jul 6, 2013
- Location
- Wilmington, North Carolina
I was born and grew up in Goldsboro.
Tar Heel born and Tar Heel bred.....how's the rest of that go?I was born and grew up in Goldsboro.
Old newspaper article about an experience in Battle of Bentonville.
Essentially, you have the right idea, but the details are a bit out of whack. It was the loss of Savannah that sealed the A of NV off from supplies from the Deep South. Sherman planned his advance across GA using a revolutionary map. On a few copies were made. Sherman’s personal copy is available online from the Library of Congress. Every county in GA has the data gathered during the 1860 Census printed on it. As a result, even if rail communications with Lee had been reestablished, there would have been nothing to ship.I think that the Battle of Bentonville is important because the confederates were trying to salvage rations meant for the Army of Northern Virginia. These were being transported up from the coast, towards Raleigh Durham where they could still be shipped by rail to Petersburg. The loss of these supplies severely crippled Lee and his men during the last weeks of the war. Note the date of this battle is just two weeks before Lee's surrender. Lee surrendered primarily because of lack of food for his men.
My theory is that Bentonville was the last strangling of the South by Sherman. The overall strategy worked. Cutoff supply of the enemy.
Also, the last chance to shoot at Yankees.You are right. Supplies from the deep south had been cutoff. Lee was still receiving supplies and expecting supplies by rail to Petersburg. At this time.
Have you ever been to the Outer Banks of North Carolina? Many inlets, bays, and waterways. Supplies were still getting through, however the last large shipment was captured by Grant's men.
The A of TN was still strategically important, with goal of guarding the last supply line. And potentially uniting with Lee.
Sadly for them, in this case they chose Yankees who could shoot back. The Tennessee families that lost loved ones in that pointless bloodletting is symbolized by a pair of headstones a couple of blocks from my house. The family lost one son at Shiloh & their youngest at Bentonville, they are on the fence line of a cemetery. Seeing that as I do on my routine trips to the grocery store keeps me grounded in what that war really meant.Also, the last chance to shoot at Yankees.
A great book, no doubt, but there are issues with his interpretation of the battle. Specifically, he doesn't give the proper justice to Wade Hampton for developing the battle plan implemented by Johnston. Mark Bradley's book is superb, and it also features Mark Moore's excellent maps: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1882810023/?tag=civilwartalkc-20Thank you for this beautifully photographed tour. Have been wanting to read this soft cover I picked up last year by Nathaniel Cheairs Hughes, no doubt a descendant of the Cheairs brothers of Spring Hill, Tenn.
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I agree, it is a potent landscape to traverse. For me, it is nothing but a testament to a senseless tragedy.Regarding those maps, Roy: they are the work of master cartographer Mark Anderson Moore. Mark is the "official" cartographer of the Carolinas Campaign, which is why I had him do the maps for my books on the surrender at Bennett Place and the Battle of Aiken, SC. The maps were compiled into an atlas years ago and were published by the original Savas-Woodbury Publishing Co. Copies can be hard to find and will likely be expensive, but this is the book, which is absolutely indispensable to the study of the Carolinas Campaign (which I have been studying seriously for twenty years now): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N8XOOWA/?tag=civilwartalkc-20.
I've spent quite a bit of time at Bentonville over the years. My first tour was by Mark Bradley himself, and I've been along for several other tours with him over the years. It has long been one of my favorite battlefields for lots of reasons, but one of those reasons is that you can still find trenches in the woods where the iron pine headless remain intact, 156 years after the fact. Ed Bearss once told me that he knows of no other site anywhere where one can see such a sight.
I am very familiar with the Outer Banks, Daufuskie Island is a particular favorite. You will want to consult a CW rail map. Even had there been an attempt to ship supplies through the Union blockade via the coast, where would the hundreds of thousands of pounds of bacon, for example, have come from?You are right. Supplies from the deep south had been cutoff. Lee was still receiving supplies and expecting supplies by rail to Petersburg. At this time.
Have you ever been to the Outer Banks of North Carolina? Many inlets, bays, and waterways. Supplies were still getting through, however the last large shipment was captured by Grant's men.
The A of TN was still strategically important, with goal of guarding the last supply line. And potentially uniting with Lee.
Also , an unknown number of the 4,000 Jr Reserves were killed and wounded. These were 15, 16 and 17 year olds who had been at Ft Fisher, other coastal forts and prison camps. The records for these soldiers are virtually nonexistent. It is difficult to comprehend that anyone could have believed that the Confederacy had any hope to survive after the siege at Petersburg was initiated.Essentially, you have the right idea, but the details are a bit out of whack. It was the loss of Savannah that sealed the A of NV off from supplies from the Deep South. Sherman planned his advance across GA using a revolutionary map. On a few copies were made. Sherman’s personal copy is available online from the Library of Congress. Every county in GA has the data gathered during the 1860 Census printed on it. As a result, even if rail communications with Lee had been reestablished, there would have been nothing to ship.
Bentonville was nothing but a show of pride. A lot of the loyal remnant of the Army of Tennessee were killed because a gaggle of defeated generals wanted to go through the motions one more time. That is my opinion, of course. It is however, one that is shared by many others who study the A of TN.
Daufuskie Island is in South Carolina, on the border with Georgia, Rhea. It's not part of the Outer Banks. But it is a lovely place.I am very familiar with the Outer Banks, Daufuskie Island is a particular favorite. You will want to consult a CW rail map. Even had there been an attempt to ship supplies through the Union blockade via the coast, where would the hundreds of thousands of pounds of bacon, for example, have come from?