Now, im going to make a detour. Were going to make a sharp turn south and were going to turn back the clock. Were going to go back to december of 1864. And were going to follow this man, general william t. Sherman and his progress in what he believes and hopes will be his final campaign of the war. Now sherman and grant are pursuing the grand strategy that they form lated in march of 1864 in cincinnati, ohio. The idea was to keep the armies in the east and in the west confederate armies so busy that they could not reinforce each other. And not have a repeat fiasco in the battle in september of 1863. Well this strategy is working. Slowly, but working. While grant keeps lees army bottled up around the trenches of petersburg and richmond, sherman captures atlanta georgia, in september of 1864. On december 16 the army of the cumberland under george h. Thomas crushes the army of tennessee, the confederacy second largest field army and one week later general sherman completes his march from atlanta to the sea by presenting the city of savannah, georgia to president Abraham Lincoln as a christmas gift. Now, sherman is looking ahead to his next campaign. Hes going to make a march to the carolinas moving his army group northward to richmond, virginia. There he will join forces with general grant and together they will crush lees army and bring the war to a victorious conclusion. Sherman plans to launch his campaign in january of 1865, but torrential winter rains prevent that from happening. So he is forced to delay his campaign for the following month. In the meantime general grant decides to launch his second expedition to capture port fisher and close wilmington North Carolina the last blockade running seaport in the confederacy. And in effect, close the lifeline of the confederacy as its called. Now the First Expedition went badly, general benjamin f. Butler launched that expedition with rear admiral david d. Porter, but without attempting an attack on the port, butler decided to abandon the campaign and return to virginia. Grant properly sacked butler and replaced him with general alfred h. Terry. And in effect, he gets a better general, and he gets a much easier man to live with. Both butler and porter are prima donnas they dont get along at all. Goes back to 1862, but with terry at the helm of the army component, that wont be a problem. And the two men soon find they work well together. Terry will also have a large forest at his disposal close to 10,000 infantry including a division of black troops. While porter will lead an armada of 58 warships. Now, commanding the coastal defenses below wilmington, none other than general braxton bragg, who by this length stage in the war, theres probably only one person in the south who Still Believes in bragg, but he happens to be the commander and chief, president Jefferson Davis. And davis opponents his senior appoints his senior military advisor as the commander of the defenses around wilmington, in effect superseding the previous Commander Major general whiting. Commanding the fort itself and the garrison is colonel william lamb who is also the chief architect. Lamb is a quick learner. Hes learning military engineering on the fly in 1862 when the federals attacked and reduced and collapsed in savannah, georgia. And reduced that port to rubble. Well lamb profits from that example. He decides to build his fort out of stand. Oh, and also, its nice the fact that theres plenty of Building Material there on the beach. Well, the fall of 1864 most imposing sea port in the south. Boast 47 guns that may seem like a lot, but the union fleet outguns the port fishery defenses on an order of almost ten to one. In fact, the Largest Union warship, the colorado posts 55 guns alone. Now, the federal fleet appears off port fisher on the afternoon of april 12 and theyve received to bombard the port. Over two and a half days they fired more than 19,000 rounds. And knocked out all but two guns on the no, your honor land face. In the meantime general bragg in wilmington has refused to send reinforcements south for the inevitable attack. A very frustrated whiting decides to head down to fort fisher. And when whiting gets there he said land,mb my boy we are to be sacrificed. Well, the federals after that massive bombardment launched their assault. Attacking the northeast baston pictured here, armed with pistols attacking a position defended by artillery. Well, theyre easily repulsed however, they give the army an opportunity to gain a foothold inside the port off to the left of the west. And after desperate hand to hand fighting that lasts well into the night in which both whiting and lamb are severely wounded, port fisher falls to general terry. And now lees lifeline is cut, but in the city of wilmington itself remains in confederate hands and itll require another campaign to capture it. Now, general sherman decides to begin his campaign on february 1, 1865. He moves his 60,000 man army group into South Carolina. The left wing, consisting of the 20th corps is commanded by Major General henry. The right wing is commanded by one armed Major General oliver who commands the 15th and 17th port. And then finally, the Calvary Division under juddson kilpatrick, 60,000 men in all. Now opposing this force are confederates led by general beauregard. He on lienlingly calls for something that sherman does regularly, and thats to think on giving locations off to the east or off to the west. To keep the confederates guessing as to what his objective is. Now in this case and entering South Carolina, sherman banks towards the northwest towards augusta with his calgary while the infantry initially seems to march towards charleston. Which is the cradle of succession. Wanted for the symbolic the city of augusta with his arsenal and gun powder works theres also a desirable target. And in effect beauregard opens the road to the State Capitol for sherman. And with minimal interference he reaches columbia on february 17th 1865. By this point its clear to the confederacys new general in chief, robert e. Lee, that he is not up to the task of stopping sherman. And on february 22nd he directs joseph e. Johnson whose been living in virtual retirement since the recollusion in 1964 he appoints johnston to command the troops. Concentrate all available forces and drive back chersherman. At this point johnson is saying, with what . In the words of his calgary chief, it would scarcely have been possible to disperse a force. Theyre the remnants of the army of tennessee. Marching northward through South Carolina on shermans left theres Lieutenant General william j. Hardys core. Garrison that defended charleston, theyre retreating to shermans right. Then third, once the federals crossing the North Carolina, the department in North Carolina troops under Braxton Braggs and finally, the one force that has been opposing shermans advance, the calvary under general hampton. Now hampton arrives from the army of northern virginia. He arrives in South Carolina, his home state. Just in time to see his family home millwood burned to the ground along with a lot of other buildings in columbia South Carolina. No pun intended hampton is burning for revenge. The opportunity is presented to him a few days after the two armies crossing the North Carolina. Hampton and kilpatrick has been squirmishing almost constantly during their progress and kilpatrick has managed to steal a march around hamptons force, and hes gotten between the confederate calgary and the infantry under hardy. So kilpatrick sets up a series of roadblocks to prevent hampton from reaching the town of fayetteville and joining forces with hardy. But what he does is he presents hampton with an ideal opportunity to concentrate on an isolated part of the calvary at monroes cross roads. It just so happens that kilpatricks headquarters are located there. And its a dawn on march 10 1865 that hampton launches a surprise attack on kilpatricks camp succeeds in sweeping everything before him. Driving the federals into a swamp. In fact, the attack is so successful that the confederates are disorganized giving the federals an opportunity to counterattack and drive the confederates out of their camp. Kilpatrick manages to avoid being captured and the confederates are now free to march into fayetteville. However, Union Infantry are endlessly delighted by this embarrassing encounter that kilpatrick has with hampton here at the cross roads, and they nicknamed this battle the skedaddle. Sherman reaches fayetteville on the following day, march 11th. Promptly orders the engineers and mechanics to burn the former u. S. Arsenal there. Hell rest his army there until march 15th when hell begin the final stage of his progress to his destination. In the meantime on february 22nd 1865 department of North Carolina troops commanded by Major General john m. Scoffield captures wilmington. He was with the 237rd army corps, and they are joining terrys forces. And now there is going to be a new objective sherman is going to be heading towards goldsboro. Hell rest and refit his army before continuing the march into virginia. And its up to the 23rd commanded by general jacob b. Hawks to secure goldsboro from sherman. Guess whos in his way . General braggs troops, consisting of general robert f. Hocks division and tennessee troops who reach North Carolina at this point. Say what you will about bragg, at least he aint timid. He launches an a h on coxs forces a few miles east of kingstone on march 8th and succeeds in rounding a portion of coxs forests. And in the process, capturing 800 federals and one cannon. Things looked good for the confederates on the first day, then the second day, he brings up reinforcements, the federals dig in bragg attempts an attack on the tenth, but hes repulsed. Receiving word that cox is still receiving more reinforcements, bragg decides to fall back towards goldsboro ending the battle. Now in the meantime sherman plots the course of his army group from fayetteville, goldsboro is his objective, but keep in mind, he wants to keep johnston guessing as to what his objective is. So hes going to send the left wing northward on the old raleigh stage road as if hes heading towards the North Carolina state capital. Theyll be marching in marching order, all unnecessary wagons will be with the right wing under howard. Theyll be taking direct roads to goldsboro. And the idea is to keep johnston up in the air as to where sherman is headed. Now johnston has a plan of his own. Hes told general hardy to make a stand somewhere south to buy time for the concentration of the Confederate Army in central North Carolina. And hardy sets up a defensive position a few miles south. And its there that they fraif commander by the name of alfred m. Rhett and separates the two armies accompanied by nothing more than one staff officer. Hes promptly captured, taken prison of war by kilpatricks chief of staffs. Now this turns out to be something of a reunion because it seems that general sherman and several of his subordinates were stationed in charleston rhetts hometown before the war. And they spend the evening together and have dinner. And then the following morning, shermans army moves out. Sherman has accompanied the wing and they find hardy drawn up in a defensive death. Students of the revolutionary war, this looks like the courthouse. A threeline defense. Now sherman is able to drive back the first two lines but he gets to the third and main line around dusk he decides to launch a general assault the following morning, however, after dark, hardy falls back towards smithfield. Thats where johnston made his head field. Now most of the left wing is turning to the right heading east on the goldsboro road. Well johnston made his headquarters at smithville because its roughly midway between raleigh and goldsboro. Hardy has managed to accomplish what he was supposed to do, which was to slow shermans progress. Now johnston has to make a decision where and if he should attack shermans army. He sends him p a dispatch to general hampton. Hampton has made his headquarters on the evening of march 17th at willis coal clin kags, a few miles south of ben tonville, on the goldsboro road, hampton asked or rather johnston asked hampton for his assessment, and hampton says i found the Perfect Place to launch a surprise attack on the union left wing. And he recommends that johnston send his army marching for ben tonville, and then dawn of march 18th johnston does just that. Up to this time he has expected johnston tro to try to oppose his entry into goldsboro but intelligence and poor maps lead him to believe that johnston is falling back twarlds raleigh, confederates are burning all the bridges that will separate them from the union army and that the road to goldsboro is open. If theres anything in the union army that is dangerous right now, its overconfidence. And the words of lieutenant John Marshall brainem, one of the soldiers said on the morning of march 14, we feel in excellent spirits. Everything promises for a smooth entry into goldsboro. Well that will prove to be his last entry. Hell be lying dead on the field of bat until just a few hours. As sherman prepares to join the right wing under howard, he has a brief conversation with several other generals including 14th corps commanding general jefferson c. Davis. Isnt that a great name for a yankee general . Thats just perfect. Well davis tells sherman he thinks hes going to run into more than the usual confederate calgary. Sherman says no theres nothing out there just a Small Division of confederate calvary. He said brush them out of the way, ill see you at coxs bridge tomorrow. Coxs bridge being the point at which both shermans wings to pass over towards goldsboro. Well the wing will not reach the bring for four days. Leading the way on the morning of march 19 general william pete carlins division. Not having too much trouble. Then all of the sudden, they hit the goal plantation. All hell breaks loose. Carl and his runin the infantry and theyre on both sides. One of the brigades, North Carolina junior reserves consistents almost entirely of teenage boys are blocking the way. Cant see them just yet, but often the left army of tennessee is also going into position. Fewer than 4,000 veterans just a shadow of the 70000man army that johnstone led in the spring. 1864, but the attack plan is developed. Carlins division is sent back. And now he decides to the core. James d. Morgan divisions to the front then he received some startling intelligence, a union pow has made his escape during that federal repulse, reports to him that johnston has arrived with his entire army at ben tonville. Hes ridden through the rajs of men and theyre going to defeat slogan and follow him to the right wing to the south and destroy them and turner. And if thats not enough convincing, he also hears from a 14th core staff officer whose been up at the front and that officer says well general i find more than the calvary, i find confederate infantry dug in and enough to give us the amusement for the rest of the day. So now he realizes hes in for it. He leaves his divisions at the front to stop the impending assault, and he takes the 20th corps and has them back at farm on more defensible ground about a mile to the rear. And now all he can do is just wait. In the meantime he starts sending couriers to general sherman with increasingly urgent messages telling him of his peril and begging him for reinforcements from howards wing. Going to take them close to 24 hours to reach ben tonville in the meantime he has to hold on. Now for johnson, its been frustrating because he wanted to do this sooner. Its not until 2 45 ant afternoon of march 19th that he finally launches his attack. And at first, everything worked pertly. In the words of a confederate with the junior reserves and the army of tennessee moves out, they could begin their assault. Looked like a picture was truly beautiful, but it was painful to see just how close their battle flags were together. Regiments being scarcely larger than companies. Nonetheless, there were enough to draw that division. In turn push the men south back as well. And in the words of lieutenant charles s. Browner of 21st michigan. We stood as long as man can stand, and when that was no longer a possibility, we run like the deuce. And he also wrote we showed to the reds as well as our own sides, some of the best running ever did. Looking good at this point, but theres one problem. Hardys wing north of the road has followed orders, they launched their attack but south of the road general bragg he holds fast. We dont know why exactly, he never wrote a report, but we know he didnt launch his attack until ooefr an hour after johnston specified the attack. That gives the men of the road to dig in and improve their entrenchments and it serves them well. In the course of the fighting south of the road, turning point of the battle incidentally morgans men have to fight on both sides of the works because their attack from the left flank, after their repulse, troops of the aempl tennessee managed to get in behind. But morgans men hold on. In the meantime the momentum is still strong north of the road the men of the division and the army of tennessee. And they continue on to the morris farm. And here are two old adversaries face each other. Commander of the confederate troops on that part of the field are facing the 20th corps troops of general williams. They had first met in virginia in august of 1862. They met for the second time in the burrough just a few days before. Now ben tonville. This will be the high water mark, ben tonville. He and his men will launch four desperate assaults across morriss open fields. Into the mouths of at least 16 union guns. At night fall, he calls off further attacks. He has managed to hold on and the battle of march 9th ends on a draw. Now its up to the right wing. They come marching to his assistance. Early on the morning of 20th of march. T