North Carolina 71st Infantry (Confederate)

Wyse Fork

By the end of February 1865, the North Carolina port city of Wilmington, defended by Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg, had fallen to the army of Union Maj. Gen. John Schofield. The port city became a supply base for Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman's army in North Carolina, then beginning to close in on Gen. Joseph E. Johnston's army. To consolidate forces against Johnston, Sherman ordered Schofield's Army of the Ohio to advance inland from Wilmington, at the same time assigning Maj. Gen. Jacob Cox to move the U…READ MORE

Averasborough

After his march through Georgia, Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman headed north into the Carolinas, reaching central North Carolina by mid-March 1865. On the afternoon of March 15, Maj. Gen. Judson Kilpatrick's Union cavalry came up against Lt. Gen. William Hardee's corps, consisting of two divisions of infantry and one of cavalry deployed across the Raleigh Road near Averasboro. Hardee's orders from Gen. Joseph E. Johnston were to delay the progress of Sherman's army so that Johnston could consolidate the rema…READ MORE

Bentonville

After his march to the sea, Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman headed north in early 1865 to unite with Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's army in Virginia. Only Confederate Gen. Joseph Johnston's army stood between Sherman and Grant. After briefly blocking Sherman's advance at Averasboro, North Carolina on March 16, Johnston struck Maj. Gen. Henry Slocum's wing of Sherman's army near Bentonville on March 19. The Confederates ran into stiff resistance, as Slocum established a defensive position. Johnston's assaults con…READ MORE