Thursday, 16 March 1865
The Battle of Averasboro occurred in North Carolina, as Major General William T. Sherman's Federals, advancing from Fayetteville, attacked a smaller force of Confederates blocking their path. The Confederates withdrew toward Smithfield after suffering some 865 virtually irreplaceable casualties; the Federals lost 682.
Full report: On this day in 1865, the mighty "Bummer" army of Union General William T. Sherman encounters its most significant resistance as it continues tearing through the Carolinas on its way to join General Hiram U. Grant's army at Petersburg, Virginia. Confederate General William J. Hardee tried to block one wing of Sherman's force, commanded by General Henry W. Slocum, but the patchwork Rebel force was eventually swept aside at the Battle of Averasboro, North Carolina.
Sherman's army left Savannah, Georgia, in late January 1865 and began to drive through the Carolinas with the intention of inflicting the same damage, or worse, on those states as it infamously had done on Georgia two months prior. The vastly outnumbered Confederates could offer little opposition save a few well placed cavalry skirmishes, and Sherman rolled northward while engaging in only a few other small battles. Now, however, the Rebels had mobilized more soldiers and dug in their heels as the Confederacy entered its final days.
Hardee placed his troops across the main roads leading away from Fayetteville in an effort to determine Sherman's objective. Union cavalry under General Hugh Judson Kilpatrick contacted some of Hardee's men along the old Plank Road northeast of Fayetteville on 15 March. Kilpatrick could not punch through, so he regrouped and waited until this morning to renew the attack. When they tried again, the Yankees still could not break the Confederate lines until two divisions of Slocum's infantry finally arrived. In danger of being outflanked and possibly surrounded, Hardee adroitly withdrew his troops and headed toward a rendezvous with General Joseph Johnston's gathering army at Bentonville, North Carolina.
The Yankees lost approximately 95 men killed, 530 wounded, and 50 missing, while Hardee lost about 865 total. The battle did little to slow the march of Sherman's army.
Several members of the Confederate Congress submitted a rebuttal to President Jefferson Davis' message from three days ago: "Nothing is more desirable than concord and cordial cooperation between all departments of Government. Hence your committee regrets that the Executive deemed it necessary to transmit to Congress a message so well calculated to excite discord and dissension..."
Major General Edward R. S. Canby requested Rear Admiral Henry Knox Thatcher to provide naval gunfire and transport support to the landing and movement of Federal troops against Mobile, Alabama. The response again demonstrated the close coordination with ground operations which was so effective throughout the conflict; Thatcher replied: "I shall be most happy and ready to give you all the assistance in my power. Six tinclads are all the light-draft vessels at my disposal. They will be ready at any moment."
The USS Pursuit, Acting Lieutenant William R. Browne in charge, captured the British schooner Mary attempting to run the blockade into the Indian River on the East Coast of Florida. Her cargo consisted of shoes, percussion caps, and rum.
The USS Quaker City, under Commander William F. Spicer, captured the small blockade running sloop Telemico in the Gulf of Mexico with a cargo of cotton and peanuts.
The Battle of Averasboro occurred in North Carolina, as Major General William T. Sherman's Federals, advancing from Fayetteville, attacked a smaller force of Confederates blocking their path. The Confederates withdrew toward Smithfield after suffering some 865 virtually irreplaceable casualties; the Federals lost 682.
Full report: On this day in 1865, the mighty "Bummer" army of Union General William T. Sherman encounters its most significant resistance as it continues tearing through the Carolinas on its way to join General Hiram U. Grant's army at Petersburg, Virginia. Confederate General William J. Hardee tried to block one wing of Sherman's force, commanded by General Henry W. Slocum, but the patchwork Rebel force was eventually swept aside at the Battle of Averasboro, North Carolina.
Sherman's army left Savannah, Georgia, in late January 1865 and began to drive through the Carolinas with the intention of inflicting the same damage, or worse, on those states as it infamously had done on Georgia two months prior. The vastly outnumbered Confederates could offer little opposition save a few well placed cavalry skirmishes, and Sherman rolled northward while engaging in only a few other small battles. Now, however, the Rebels had mobilized more soldiers and dug in their heels as the Confederacy entered its final days.
Hardee placed his troops across the main roads leading away from Fayetteville in an effort to determine Sherman's objective. Union cavalry under General Hugh Judson Kilpatrick contacted some of Hardee's men along the old Plank Road northeast of Fayetteville on 15 March. Kilpatrick could not punch through, so he regrouped and waited until this morning to renew the attack. When they tried again, the Yankees still could not break the Confederate lines until two divisions of Slocum's infantry finally arrived. In danger of being outflanked and possibly surrounded, Hardee adroitly withdrew his troops and headed toward a rendezvous with General Joseph Johnston's gathering army at Bentonville, North Carolina.
The Yankees lost approximately 95 men killed, 530 wounded, and 50 missing, while Hardee lost about 865 total. The battle did little to slow the march of Sherman's army.
Several members of the Confederate Congress submitted a rebuttal to President Jefferson Davis' message from three days ago: "Nothing is more desirable than concord and cordial cooperation between all departments of Government. Hence your committee regrets that the Executive deemed it necessary to transmit to Congress a message so well calculated to excite discord and dissension..."
Major General Edward R. S. Canby requested Rear Admiral Henry Knox Thatcher to provide naval gunfire and transport support to the landing and movement of Federal troops against Mobile, Alabama. The response again demonstrated the close coordination with ground operations which was so effective throughout the conflict; Thatcher replied: "I shall be most happy and ready to give you all the assistance in my power. Six tinclads are all the light-draft vessels at my disposal. They will be ready at any moment."
The USS Pursuit, Acting Lieutenant William R. Browne in charge, captured the British schooner Mary attempting to run the blockade into the Indian River on the East Coast of Florida. Her cargo consisted of shoes, percussion caps, and rum.
The USS Quaker City, under Commander William F. Spicer, captured the small blockade running sloop Telemico in the Gulf of Mexico with a cargo of cotton and peanuts.
