Being unfamiliar
with battle against an opposing army and not knowing Gen. Joseph E.
Johnston’s true strength, Sherman avoided a general engagement after the
sharp fight at Bentonville. The latter was anxious for junction with a
nearby Northern force to further increase his three to one numerical
advantage in case Johnston attacked again.
Bernhard Thuersam, Chairman
North Carolina War Between the States Sesquicentennial Commission
"Unsurpassed Valor, Courage and Devotion to Liberty"
"The Official Website of the North Carolina WBTS Sesquicentennial"
Refusing Southern Care at Bentonville
“As
we returned to our lines [as Johnston strengthened his position at
Bentonville on 21 March 1865], which we did in a leisurely way and with
little or no order, notwithstanding the enemy’s shells were singing a
dirge in the treetops overhead, I rode through [a swamp] with two men of
my regiment. In going through my horse shied, and, looking around, I
saw a Federal lieutenant of infantry leaning against a tree, badly
wounded, with bloody water all around.
I
checked my horse, returned to him, and offered to place him on my horse
and carry him to our division hospital, where he would be immediately
cared for.
His
answer was: “You go to h[ell], you d[amned] Rebel. I had rather die
than have your polluted hands touch me.” [H]e grew worse and worse and
cursed the South and all Confederate soldiers.
So we left him to his fate. He was about twenty-two years of age, well dressed and very handsome.”
J.A. Jones, Fifty-first Alabama Cavalry, Hagan’s Brigade, Army of Tennessee.
(Moore’s Historical Guide to the Battle of Bentonville, Mark A. Moore, Savas Publishing, 1997, pg. 69)
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