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Battle of Averasborough

Battle of the American Civil War

Summary

Battle of the American Civil War

Field	Value
conflict	Battle of Averasborough
partof	the American Civil War
image	Trials and triumphs - the record of the Fifty-Fifth Ohio Volunteer Infantry (1904) (14576124378).jpg
caption	Map of the Battle of Averasborough
date
place	Harnett and Cumberland counties, North Carolina
coordinates
result	Inconclusive
combatant1	United States (Union)
combatant2	Confederate States
commander1	United States William T. Sherman
commander2	CSA William J. Hardee
units1	Army of Georgia
units2	Hardee's Corps
strength1	12,000
strength2	7,000
casualties1	700
casualties2	500
map_type	North Carolina
map_size	300
map_relief	Yes
map_label	Averasborough
map_caption	Location within North Carolina
campaignbox

The Battle of Averasborough fought March 16, 1865, in Harnett and Cumberland counties, North Carolina, as part of the Carolinas campaign of the American Civil War, was a prelude to the climactic Battle of Bentonville, which began three days later.

Opposing forces

Union

Union Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman was moving his army north towards Goldsboro in two columns. The right column (Army of the Tennessee) was under the command of Maj. Gen. Oliver O. Howard and the left column (Army of Georgia) was under Maj. Gen. Henry W. Slocum.

Confederate

Confederate Gen. Joseph E. Johnston sent Lt. Gen. William J. Hardee's corps to attack Slocum's left wing while it was separated from the rest of Sherman's forces.

Battle

Slocum's troops had crossed the Cape Fear River at Fayetteville and were marching up the Raleigh plank road. Near Averasborough, they encountered Hardee's corps. On the morning of March 16, troops of the Union XX Corps under Maj. Gen. Alpheus S. Williams were driven back by a Confederate assault. When reinforcements arrived, the Union forces counterattacked and drove back two lines of Confederates, but were stopped by a third line. By this time, units from Maj. Gen. Jefferson C. Davis's XIV Corps began to arrive on the field. Outnumbered and in danger of being flanked, Hardee's troops withdrew.

Battlefield preservation

Map by the [[American Battlefield Protection Program

The Battle of Averasborough was fought on the grounds of Oak Grove, a former plantation of the John Smith family near Erwin, North Carolina. [[Lebanon (Dunn, North Carolina)| Lebanon]] was used as a hospital. Prior to the battle, Union soldiers raided the Ellerslie Plantation for supplies and quartered troops in the plantation's main house. The Averasboro Battlefield Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2001. The American Battlefield Trust and its partners have acquired and preserved more than 568 acres of the Averasborough battlefield as of mid-2023.

References

Survey and Planning Unit Staff. (May 1972). "Oak Grove". North Carolina State Historic Preservation Office.
Survey and Planning Unit Staff. (April 1972). "Lebanon". North Carolina State Historic Preservation Office.
Elliot, Jane Evans. (1908). "Diary of Mrs. Jane Evans Elliot, 1837–1882". Edwards & Broughton Print Company.
{{NRISref
"Averasboro Battlefield".

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

1865-in-the-american-civil-war 1865-in-north-carolina battles-of-the-american-civil-war-in-north-carolina battles-of-the-western-theater-of-the-american-civil-war campaign-of-the-carolinas inconclusive-battles-of-the-american-civil-war march-1865

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