It was now the 21st of February, and our wing of the army had reached
Winnsboro, where we went to work destroying the rail road up to
Blackstake's depot, and then turned to Rocky Mount, on the Catawba
river. From the 23rd to the 26th, heavy rains fell swelling the rivers,
and making the roads almost impassable. On the 26th we reached Hanging
Rock, and made preparations to cross the river, but the heavy rains had
so swollen the stream, that our pontoon bridge broke, and we had hard
work to restore it. At last we succeeded, and were put in motion for
Cheraw, which place we entered on the 3rd day of March; the enemy
retreating across the Pedee river and burning the bridge. Here we found
much ammunition, and many guns which had been brought from Charleston on
the evacuation of that city. These were destroyed, as also the rail road
bridges and trestles as far down as Darlington, when we were again put
in motion for Fayetteville, North Carolina. The weather still continued
bad and the roads fearful, but we reached there on the 11th of March,
skirmishing with Wade Hampton's cavalry that covered the rear of
Hardee's retreating army. During the night of the 9th, Hampton made a
dash on our cavalry on our left flank at daylight and captured one of
their camps, and the house in which General Kilpatrick had his
headquarters. But Kilpatrick escaped in his underclothes and rallying
his men on foot in a swamp near by, succeeded in routing the enemy,
regaining his artillery, horses, camp and everything, save a few
prisoners whom the enemy carried off, leaving their dead on the ground.
All that day, the cavalry boys who had made their escape after being
taken prisoners by the enemy, kept coming into our line of march, some
of them without hats, coats or shoes, all of them on foot. But they soon
left us and returned to their command. Their appearance, however, was
ludicrous, and their accounts of how they came to be captured, were
generally the same. The way in which it happened was this: During the
night of the 9th, General Kilpatrick had divided his three brigades to
picket the roads. Hampton, detecting this, dashed in at daylight, and
made the capture. The 12th, 13th and 14th, were passed at Fayetteville,
destroying the arsenal and the vast amount of machinery which had
formerly belonged to the old Harper's Ferry United States arsenal. Every
building was knocked down and burned, and every piece of machinery
utterly broken up and ruined. On the 15th of March we again moved
forward, the cavalry marching in advance and skirmishing heavily with
the enemy's rear guard all day. Next morning we again advanced in the
same order, and developed the enemy with artillery, infantry and
cavalry, in an intrenched position in front of the point where the road
branches off towards Goldsboro through Bentonville. Orders were given to
press forward and carry his position, only difficult by reason of the
nature of the ground, which was so soft that horses would sink
everywhere, and even men could hardly make their way. Line of battle was
formed as quickly as possible, and skirmishers thrown out, who soon
developed the position of a brigade of Charleston heavy artillery armed
as infantry, posted across the road behind a light parapet, with a
battery enfilading the approach across a cleared field, but they
retreated in confusion, leaving in our hands three guns, and 217
prisoners, of which 68 were wounded and left in a house near by with a
rebel officer, four men and five days rations. One hundred and eighty
rebel dead were buried by us. Hardee retreated on the road to
Smithfield. This was the battle of Averysboro. We lost 12 officers and
65 men killed, and 477 wounded, but no prisoners. On the night of the
18th we went into camp on the Goldsboro road, twenty-seven miles from
Goldsboro, and about five miles from Bentonville, where the road from
Clinton to Smithfield crosses the Goldsboro road. The enemy was badly
defeated, and all indications pointed that he would make no further
opposition to our advance, but subsequent events proved that such was
not the case. We were now marching on Goldsboro, in North Carolina, our
objective point. On the morning of the 19th, we pushed forward to
Bentonville, encountering on the road, and driving them before us,
Dibbrell's cavalry, until within a few miles of the town, where we found
the whole rebel army, strongly posted, under command of Johnston
himself. Gen. Sherman had gone, that morning, with his staff and escort,
over to the right. He was promptly advised as to how matters stood, and
we were ordered to act on the defensive until Blair's corps could draw
up, and the three remaining divisions of the fifteenth corps could come
in on Johnston's left rear, from the direction of Cox's bridge. In the
mean time we received word, by courier, that Schofield and Terry would
be able to reach Goldsboro by the 21st. Orders were sent to Schofield to
push for Goldsboro. By daylight on the 20th, General Howard, leaving his
wagon train with sufficient guard, was marching rapidly on Bentonville.
And now we come to the battle of Bentonville. Our advance guard,
consisting of two brigades, was vigorously attacked, and driven back on
our main body, by the enemy, who thereby gained a temporary advantage,
and captured three guns and caissons from General Carlin's division of
our corps. As soon, however, as General Slocum ascertained that he was
confronted by the whole rebel army, he deployed the second division of
our corps, to which our regiment belonged, and brought up on our left
the second division of the 20th corps, arranging them behind hastily
constructed barricades, and holding them strictly on the defensive.
Kilpatrick with his cavalry also came up at the sound of artillery, and
massed on our left. In this position we repulsed, without giving an inch
of ground, six distinct charges of the combined forces of Hoke, Hardee
and Cheatham. Our artillery got into position, and played on the rebel
ranks as they came up to the charge, doing fearful execution; the
slaughter was terrible. Johnston had moved the night before from
Smithfield, leaving all his unnecessary wheels behind him, and but with
little artillery, with the intention of overwhelming our left flank
before it could be relieved by our other column coming to our
assistance, but Johnston had not yet learned that the eye of Sherman was
always on the watch, and that he was prepared for any emergency that
might arise. During the night of the 19th, Gen. Slocum got up the wagon
train with the two divisions guarding it, and General Hazen's division
of the 15th corps. This reinforcement made it impossible for Johnston to
overwhelm us. The right wing encountered the rebel cavalry, as it was
coming to our support, but drove it with serious loss until the head of
the column encountered a considerable body behind a barricade at the
forks of the road near Bentonville, about three miles east of the battle
field of the day before. This force was quickly dislodged and the
intersection of the roads secured. These movements which were being made
were all accomplished by 4 p. m. of the 20th, when we opened out to the
astonished gaze of General Johnston, a complete and strong line of
battle. His intention of crushing and capturing our left wing, was
completely foiled, and instead of being the aggressor, he found himself
placed on the defensive, with Mill creek in his rear, spanned by a
single bridge. It was General Sherman's desire to hold the enemy in
position until Generals Schofield and Terry could advance and cut off
his retreat, thus completely "bagging" him, so he did not press him to
battle, but continued to annoy him with the skirmishers, using the
artillery freely on all the wooded ground in front, and feeling strongly
for the flanks of his position, which were found to be covered by
swamps. All of our empty wagons were sent to Kinston for supplies, and
all other impediments were grouped south of Goldsboro, near the Neuse
river, while the main army were held ready to fight the enemy if he
should dare venture out of his works. A weakness in the enemy's position
had been developed, of which advantage might be taken, but that night he
retreated on Smithfield, leaving his pickets to be taken prisoners, many
dead unburied, and wounded in his field hospitals. Pursuit was made on
the morning of the 22nd, two miles beyond Mill creek, but was then
stopped. Our loss in this engagement was 1,646 killed, wounded and
missing. The enemy left 267 dead unburied, and 1,625 prisoners. For a
more detailed account of the operations of the brigade and regiment, the
reader will please to consult the reports attached to this history. By
the evening of the 24th, our army was encamped at Goldsboro. On the
25th, only four days after, the rail road from Newbern was finished, and
the first train of cars arrived, bringing ample supplies of all
descriptions from Morehead City. It will never be known with any degree
of certainty, the amount of injury done the enemy in this campaign, or
the quantity of guns, and materials of war, destroyed. We had traveled
the country from Savannah to Goldsboro, with an average breadth of forty
miles, and had consumed all the forage, cattle, hogs, sheep, poultry,
bacon and corn meal that lay in our route. The campaign was ended on the
21st day of March, by the junction of the three armies and the
occupation of Goldsboro. We went into camp, where clothing, and supplies
were issued to us as fast as they could be brought up from the coast.
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