Saturday, November 22, 2014

Overwhelming Odds

 http://www.ncwbts150.com/images/ClarkWalterMLtCol_000.jpghttp://www.civilwaralbum.com/misc8/2007/bentonville49.jpg

Born in 1846, Major Walter Clark of the Thirty-fifth North Carolina was only nineteen at the battle of Bentonville in 1865, but was already a seasoned veteran. His unit was with Lee at Sharpsburg in 1862 while a young lieutenant of sixteen, helping Lee’s 35,000 men oppose Hooker’s 90,000. Wounded at Sharpsburg as he led his men, Clark “had experienced in sixty days of warfare more thrilling adventure and combat than most men experience in their entire lives.”
Bernhard Thuersam, Chairman
North Carolina War Between the States Sesquicentennial Commission
"Unsurpassed Valor, Courage and Devotion to Liberty"
www.ncwbts150.com
"The Official Website of the North Carolina WBTS Sesquicentennial"

American Soldiers Face Overwhelming Odds:

“In this final carnage, [General Joseph E.] Johnston had at his entire command some fifteen-thousand available men, while Sherman opposed him with an army seventy-thousand strong, flushed with victory. On the morning of March 20 it was reported that the Federal right wing had crossed over to unite with the left wing which had been driven back and was coming up rapidly upon the left of [General Robert F.] Hoke’s division.

From noon to sunset Sherman’s army, now united, made repeated attacks upon Hoke’s division of six thousand men and boys, but were uniformly driven back. The skirmish line of the brigade and the center were commanded  by Major Walter Clark. The battle raged through March 20 and 21. The night of the 21st the Confederate army re-crossed the creek by the bridge near Bentonville [North Carolina]. The Federals made repeated attempts to force the passage of the bridge, but failed.  The Confederate losses in the battle of Bentonville were 2343, while those of the Federals were nearly double that number.

No bolder movement was conceived during the war than this of General Johnston, when he threw his handful of men on the overwhelming force in front of him, and when he confronted and baffled his foes, holding a weak line for three days against nearly five times his number. For the last two days of this fight, he held his position only to secure the removal of the wounded. The Junior Reserves lost a number of officers and boys in this battle. General Hoke later wrote of the Junior Reserves:

“The question of the courage of the Junior Reserves was well established by themselves in the battle below Kinston and at the Battle of Bentonville. At Bentonville they held a very important part of the battlefield in opposition to Sherman’s old and tried soldiers, and repulsed every charge that was made upon them with very meager and rapidly thrown up breastworks. It was equal to that of the old soldiers who had passed through four years of war. I returned through Raleigh, where many passed by their homes, and scarcely one of them left their ranks to bid farewell to their friends, though they knew not where they were going nor what dangers they would encounter.”

(Walter Clark, Fighting Judge, Aubrey Lee Brooks, UNC Press, 1944, pp. 20-21)

12 comments:

  1. My biological ancestor (I was adopted), Corporal Jonathan Trueblood's Confederate Senior Reserve unit, whose usual mission was guarding Union prisoners of war, was at the Battle of Bentonville, and later he was present at the surrender of General Joseph Johnston.

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  2. No, I just know a little about him.

    He was a farmer, and old for military service, so that's why he was in the North Carolina Seventh Regiment of the Confederate Senior Reserve.

    At the Battle of Bentonville, his unit was merged with a couple of other units, and I think they became the Forty-First Regiment, or something like that.

    His son (also my biological ancestor) went to Indiana and joined the Union Army, seeing lots of combat action throughout the South in a mounted infantry unit.

    I read somewhere that they are one of only two (02) documented cases where father and son served on opposite sides.

    Jonathan Trueblood avoided military conscription twice, paying for someone to go in his place, but the third time, as the South was falling, they drafted him.

    He began as a private (doesn't everyone?), but must have done okay, because they made him a corporal.

    After the surrender, he walked to Indiana (or Illinois? I get confused) to be reunited with his son and grandson (whose middle name was Lincoln).

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    Replies
    1. Interesting and thanks. Guess they aren't going to kick you out after all, correct?

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  3. Yes, they are.

    I'm ordered to leave here by Close of Business on Friday 05 December 2014.

    I plan on sleeping in the cargo bed of my pickup truck.

    I thought about helping to defend the Mexican Border (which would probably be suicidal for an old man working all alone), but now, there's no longer any Border to protect, is there?

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  4. I did appeal it, but was denied.

    I can still appeal to the Chief Operating Officer in Washington, D.C., but it's a waste of time.

    Political Correctness is the rule of the day, and I did the unforgivable.

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    Replies
    1. But if you appeal, you can stay until the verdict, correct?

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  5. My appeal, although denied, did buy me a few extra weeks, otherwise I would have to have left a couple of weeks ago.

    As it is, I'm losing most of my possessions, because there's not room for them in my pickup truck, since I'll be sleeping there.

    I have very little money (only $853.97), and since I have no ties to this area, nor plans to ever return, renting a storage unit is not practical.

    My failing health and constant pain makes packing my gear and loading my pickup truck extremely difficult, but I'm slowly making progress, and think I may be able to get everything done in time.

    I have to leave my wheelchair behind, as even if there were sufficient room for it (which there's not), I'm unable to load and unload it in my pickup truck.

    But, actually, I think living on the road will prove healthier for me.

    The cold weather will be tough.

    Our Bible warns us to "pray that your flight not be in Winter".

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    Replies
    1. I think living on the road will prove healthier for me.

      Yes, I believe so, and I always loved living in the many campers I have had. You do need a little trailer or a pickup camper to make it comfortable though. Keep in touch and let me know how your are doing. Maybe start a daily posting on your blog of your trials and tribulations and something might come of it.

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  6. Thanks.

    Hey, I just now saw this at the YAHOO! web site.

    I think you'll like it as much as I did.

    Be sure to enjoy the posted comments!

    http://nation.foxnews.com/2014/11/22/gang-russian-thugs-pick-wrong-guy

    ReplyDelete