Bentonville ... LIVE
By Dennis Hill
Published in News on March 22, 2015 1:50 AM
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
A Confederate officer inspects a line of troops before marching into battle. Southern troops were badly outnumbered at Bentonville but had to take the offensive anyway.
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
A Confederate officer on horseback rides back from the front lines after delivering a message from the force's commander. Southern troops surprised Union forces on the first day, but they regrouped and held their ground.
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Scott Malone of Kenansville waxes a belt he made at his campsite in the woods near the battlefield. Most of the accessories in his unit are handmade, he said.
The thunder of gunfire echoed across the fields and woods at the Bentonville Battlefield Historic Site on Saturday as thousands of Civil War re-enactors re-created the desperate battle fought here in the spring of 1865.
An estimated 25,000 to 30,000 people packed the Johnston County battle site to watch the display put on by re-enactors from across the country.
Another big crowd is expected to attend the second day of the battle re-creation today at 1:30 p.m.
Bentonville was the last major battle of the war, fought just weeks before the final surrender. But it lacked nothing in ferocity, said author Mark Bradley, who described the first day's fighting in a brief lecture before the battle started.
It was fought by veterans of four years of bloody fighting on both sides, said Bradley, who wrote the definitive history of the battle, "Last Stand in the Carolinas: The Battle of Bentonville."
The battle pitted the 60,000-man army of Union Gen. William T. Sherman against the Confederate army of 20,000 men under the command of Gen. Joseph E. Johnston.
Chris Kelley drove from Nags Head to witness the battle on Saturday. He said he has always been interested in Civil War history, especially because his great-great-uncle, a soldier in the 148th Pennsylvania Regiment, died after being captured and sent to the notorious Andersonville prison.
"That's why it interests me," he said, recalling stories his great-aunt told him as a boy. "It's something I want to know more about. It means a whole lot to me."
Lewis Croom of Fayetteville brought a dozen members of his Boy Scout troop to the event. He said the boys voted to skip a camping trip in favor of the battle.
"It's a way for them to learn what history really means," he said.
Harry and Louise Howard of Savannah, Ga., are Civil War buffs. Harry said his great-great-grandfather was commander of the 60th Georgia Infantry Regiment.
"I think it's a grand event," Mrs. Howard said, "and we wanted to be a part of it."
Mike Keefe of Raleigh is an amateur photographer as well as a Civil War aficionado. He said that he and a friend, Chip Hendron, came to Bentonville for the action.
"There's nothing better than a Civil War re-enactment for taking pictures," Keefe said.
That was certainly the case Saturday, with women dressed in hoop skirts and bonnets mixing with soldiers in blue and gray and civilians in stovepipe hats and long-tailed coats.
The day started early as troops on both sides arose for breakfast before taking to the field to drill. Hundreds of Confederates practiced marching and firing in a field behind "sutler's row," where vendors sold merchandise to both visitors and re-enactors.
Union re-enactors camped a few hundred yards away and held their own exercises as both camps prepped for the afternoon battle, which was held at 3 p.m., about the same time the real battle commenced in 1865.
The crowd began to gather at the battlefield site more than an hour before the troops. Thousands of visitors sat on the ground, in lounge chairs or stood to watch the show. Even Gov. Pat McCrory was on hand.
The battle began with Union troops taking the field and immediately digging "breastworks" -- the Civil War version of foxholes -- while a band played period music.
The Confederates soon attacked, just as they did 150 years ago, and were initially victorious. But the Union troops quickly regrouped and took back the ground they had lost. Smoke from hundreds of rifles and a handful of cannon covers the field. The first day's battle is over.