Bentonville, fought from March 19 to 21, 1865, was the largest battle fought in the state of North Carolina. In an attempt to stop or slow the advance of a Federal force under the command of General William T. Sherman, Confederate forces under the command of General Joseph E. Johnston launched an attack on one of the wings of the Federal army. Initially, the Confederate attack met with success, pushing back several lines of Federal troops. Confederate forces numbered 22,000, mostly from the Army of Tennessee. Federal forces numbered 60,000. At end of the fighting, Confederate losses amounted to 2,606: 239 killed, 1,694 wounded, and 673 captured.
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| Bentonville Confederate Cemetery |
Many of the
Confederate wounded were evacuated to hospitals across the state of North
Carolina. Over forty Confederate soldiers, too grievously wounded to be moved,
were left behind at the Harper House, and after the Federal soldiers moved in
pursuit of the Confederates, the Harper family was charged with their care. Twenty
of them later died, and they were buried not far from the house. Over time, the
location of those graves was lost.
In 2007, the Office
of State Archaeology and the Wake Forest University Archaeology Laboratories,
as a part of the History Channel’s “Save Our History” program, began working on
finding these graves. Using ground penetrating radar, and an old photograph
from 1895, the graves were located. The Harper House/Bentonville Chapter of the
United Daughters of the Confederacy donated tombstones to mark the graves of
these unknown soldiers.
I have been to
Bentonville numerous times over the years, and I have even spoken and signed books
in their visitor center. This image dates from a 2011 trip.
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