| The Battle of Bentonville was fought March 19-21, 1865, in Bentonville, North Carolina, near the current town of Four Oaks, as part of the Carolinas Campaign of the American Civil War. It was the last major battle to occur between the armies of Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman and Gen. Joseph E. Johnston. On the first day of the battle, the Confederate army attacked one Federal wing and was able to rout two Union divisions, but was unable to drive the rest of the wing off the field. The next day, the other Federal wing arrived and for the next two days, the armies skirmished with each other before Johnston retreated. In light of overwhelming enemy strength and the relatively heavy casualties his army suffered in the battle, Johnston surrendered to Sherman little more than a month later at Bennett Place, near Durham Station. Coupled with Gen. Robert E. Lee's surrender earlier in April, Johnston's surrender represented the effective end of the war. |
