Mark A. Smith - No Such Army Since the Days of Julius Caesar: Shermans Carolinas Campaign from Fayetteville to Averasboro, March 1865

Mark A. Smith and Wade Sokolosky

Shermans Carolinas Campaign from Fayetteville to Averasboro, March 1865

Savas Beatie

California

New materials copyright 2017 by Mark A. Smith and Wade Sokolosky

Originally published in 2006 by Ironclad Publishing.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Smith, Mark A. (Mark Anthony), 1961- author. | Sokolosky, Wade, author.

Title: No such army since the days of Julius Caesar: Shermans Carolinas

campaign from Fayetteville to Averasboro / Mark A. Smith and Wade Sokolosky.

Description: [Revised and updated edition]. | El Dorado Hills, CA : Savas

Beatie, 2016. | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2016038946| ISBN 9781611212860 (alk. paper) | ISBN 9781611212877 (ebk.)

Subjects: LCSH: Shermans March through the Carolinas. | Averasboro, Battle of, N.C., 1865.

Classification: LCC E477.7 .S64 2016 | DDC 973.7/38dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016038946

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Dedicated to

Pvt. Benjamin Sarver, Co. F, 78th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry Regiment

Pvt. James Smith, Co. G, 169th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment

Sgt. Lawrence M. Smith, Jr., Tank Destroyers, WWII

SSG John Sokolosky, 1st Bn. 244th Coastal Artillery & 979th Engineer Maintenance Co., WWII

and to all patriots who have stepped forward to serve their country.

I offer neither pay, nor quarters, nor
provisions; I offer hunger, thirst
forced marches, battles and death.
Let him who loves his country in his
heart, and not with his lips only, follow me.

Giuseppe Garibaldi

List of Maps

Shermans Carolinas Campaign

Shermans Approach, March 1865

Shermans Approach, March 10, 1865

Federal Forces Arrive, March 11, 1865

Battle of Averasboro, Situation about 10:00 a.m, March 15, 1865

Battle of Averasboro, Situation about 2:00 p.m, March 15, 1865

Battle of Averasboro, Situation 2:30-3:30 p.m, March 15, 1865

Battle of Averasboro, Situation 3:30-6:00 p.m, March 15, 1865

Battle of Averasboro, Situation about 6:30 a.m, March 16, 1865

Battle of Averasboro, Situation about 9:30 a.m, March 16, 1865

Battle of Averasboro, Situation 10:00 a.m, March 16, 1865

Battle of Averasboro, Situation 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m, March 16, 1865

Battle of Averasboro, Situation 1:00 p.m, March 16, 1865

Battle of Averasboro, Situation late afternoon, March 16, 1865

Fayetteville and Averasboro Driving Tour

Fayetteville Driving tour

Averasboro Battlefield Driving Tour

Union Logistics Sites in North Carolina

Oak Grove Shell Holes

List of Illustrations

Chapter 1

Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman

Maj. Gen. Henry W. Slocum

Bvt. Maj. Gen. Judson Kilpatrick

Maj. Gen. Joseph Wheeler

Lt. Gen. William J. Hardee

Gen. Joseph E. Johnston

Lt. Gen. Wade Hampton, Jr.

Chapter 2

Lt. Col. Frederick L. Childs

Lt. Samuel A. Ashe

Maj. Matthew P. Taylor

Gen. Johnston and Gen. Hardee Meet

Arsenal Battalion Departing the Post

Painting of the Fayetteville Arsenal before the Destruction by Shermans Troops

Chapter 3

Tug Davidson

Lt. Samuel Storrow

Union Engineers Ram Destroying the Arsenal

Maj. Gen. Lafayette McLaws

Chapter 4

Washington Artillery Departing Fayetteville

Co. E, 56th Illinois Infantry

Brig. Gen. William B. Taliaferro

Col. Alfred M. Rhett

Maj. James J. Lucas

Huguenin Sketch of the First South Carolina Artillery, First Confederate Defensive Position

Capt.. Thomas Abram Huguenin

Capt. Theodore F. Northrop

Rhetts Capture

Col. William Hawley

Capt. David Oakey

Chapter 5

Capt. James I. Grafton

Bvt. Maj. Gen. Alpheus S. Williams

Lt. Col. Robert Detreville

Pvt. Arthur Ford

Scouts of the Army of the Potomac

Sgt. Guibert of LeGardeurs Battery and General Taliaferro

First Sgt. W. H. Brown, 102nd Illinois

Col. Daniel Dustin

Cases Brigade Entering the First Confederate Line

Lt. James L. Robertson, 1st SC Heavy Artillery

Brig. Gen. Stephen Elliott, Jr.

2nd South Carolina Infantry Rear Guard Action

Earnest J. Bachoven, 82nd Ohio Infantry

Chapter 6

Brig. Gen. William Vandever

Vandevers Brigade at the Ravine

Chapter 7

15th Battalion S.C. Heavy Artillery Colors

Appendix A

Ruins of the foundation of the arsenal

Ghost Towers

Pile of rocks from the arsenal showing Shermans engineers handiwork

XIV Corps Enters Fayetteville

Market House looking east

Looking west from the Market House back towards the arsenal

View from the west bank of the Cape Fear River of Shermans Left Wing pontoon bridge

Bluff Church graveyard

Church where Hawleys brigade camped evening of March 15, 1865

Silver Run Creek skirmish site

Looking south at the front of the William Smith plantation house

Looking north. This is the location of Kilpatrick and Hawleys defensive line

Attic of the Oak Grove plantation house

Front porch of Oak Grove showing bullet holes

Looking east along the Confederate defensive position

Looking south from the 1st Confederate line

Chicora Cemetery

The 40-foot-deep ravine that Vandevers brigade encountered

Averasboro Museum

The Lebanon plantation house

Black River crossing site

Appendix C

Bummer

The Port at Morehead City

Army Supply Wagon

Appendix D

Union Hospital at Savage Station

Sherman Visiting Wounded at Oak Grove

Oak Groves bloodstained floor

Surgeon Simon Baruch

Surgeon Ratliff P. Talley

Appendix E

Janie Smith

Appendix F

Lost Gunners Quadrant

T his is the story of a crucial phase of the Carolinas campaign, fought during the closing days of the Civil War. In some respects, it was the most remarkable campaign of the conflict. Soldiers on both sides battled not only each other but rains, flooding, swamps, isolation from support, and the scarcity of food and supplies. This is a story told, as much as possible, in the words of those soldiers. We have sought only to provide a narrative framework to hold their stories.

While this book focuses primarily on the maneuvering and fighting that occurred as the Union and Confederate forces approached their climactic clash at Bentonville, we recognize, where possible, Shermans secret weaponhis engineers/pioneers. Their ingenuity made this campaign successful. It is noteworthy that, with the goal of keeping the army constantly moving, Sherman had instilled in his army the mindset that every man was an engineer/pioneer.