Here is a listing of Battles fought in North Carolina with a brief description of each.Although there was much division in the state concerning secession, North Carolina did secede on May 20, 1861. North Carolina was not considered a wealthy state, but during the Civil War North Carolina supplied more men and materials to the Confederate cause than any other state. The state also suffered the largest number of losses than any other Confederate state during the war. General Joseph Johnston surrendered the last major Confederate Army to General William Sherman near Durham on April 26, 1865. North Carolina was readmitted to the Union in 1868. Serving as president during much of the difficult period of Reconstruction was Andrew Johnson, the seventeenth president (1865-1869), another North Carolina native. The years of reconstruction and the decades following were characterized by courageous readjustments.
Battle of Albemarle Sound
James W. Cooke, commander of the CSS Albemarle sailed out of Plymouth in early May 1864. Steaming south toward New Bern, Cooke ran into a Union fleet at the mouth of Albemarle Sound, commanded by Captain Melancton Smith. Smith with an advantage in numbers could do little damage to the single Confederate ship. Shots glanced off the Albemarle's sides. The USS Sassacus rammed the Albemarle at top speed and caused some significant damage. The Albemarle began taking on water but the Sassacus had also sustained damage from the impact and a shot burst one of the boilers scalding the crew. The rest of the Union fleet managed to recapture a converted steamer called the Bombshell. The Sassacus by now too damaged to function drifted down river while the Albemarle was also damaged enough not to continue the fight and made its way back to Plymouth. The battle itself was a standoff, but the events that followed had more decisive results. The Albemarle had held its own against greater numbers but the damages caused the during the battle had forced the ship into port for the next several months prevented it from being used in General Hoke's planned assault on New Bern. Hoke went ahead with his campaign even without the Albemarle. He achieved nothing before being recalled to Virginia to help defend Petersburg and Richmond. The events in October had a greater impact on the situation when William B. Cushing led a naval raid and detonated a torpedo beneath the hull. The removal of Hoke's force and the destruction of the Albemarle allowed both Plymouth and Washington, North Carolina, to fall back into Union hands. Battle of Averasborough 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. Union Major General 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 Otis Howard and the left column (Army of Georgia) was under Maj. Gen. Henry W. Slocum. Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston sent Lieutenant General William J. Hardee's corps to attack Slocum's left wing while it was separated from the rest of Sherman's forces. Slocum's troops crossed the Cape Fear River near Averasborough where they encountered Hardee's corps. On the morning of the 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 repulsed 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. The Confederates had not held up the Union Army as long as they had hoped. Each side suffered just under 700 casualties; however, these were losses the Federals could afford while the Confederates could not afford them at all. Battle of Bentonville
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 Major General William T. Sherman and General Joseph E. Johnston. 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 Robert E. Lee's surrender earlier in April, Johnston's surrender represented the effective end of the war. Battle of Fort Anderson The Battle of Fort Anderson, also known as the Battle of Deep Gully, took place from March 13 to March 15, 1863, in Craven County, North Carolina, as part of Confederate Lt. Gen. James Longstreet's Tidewater operations during the American Civil War. Lt. Gen. Longstreet took charge of the Department of Virginia and North Carolina on February 25 and initiated his Tidewater Operations. He directed Maj. Gen. D.H. Hill, commander of the North Carolina District, to advance on the Union stronghold of New Bern with about 12,000 men. Maj. Gen. William H. C. Whiting, who commanded the Wilmington garrison, refused to cooperate. After an initial success at Deep Gully on March 13, Hill marched against the well-entrenched Federals at Fort Anderson on March 14 and March 15. Hill was forced to retire upon the arrival of Union gunboats. The city's garrison was heavily reinforced, and Hill withdrew to threaten Washington, North Carolina. Battle of Fort Fisher I
The First Battle of Fort Fisher, fought from December 7 to December 27, 1864, was a failed attempt by Union forces to capture the fort guarding Wilmington, North Carolina, the South's last major port on the Atlantic Ocean. After the failed Bermuda Hundred Campaign, Maj. Gen. Benjamin Butler and his Army of the James were assigned to an amphibious expedition against Fort Fisher. Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant had originally designated one of Butler's subordinates, Maj. Gen. Godfrey Weitzel, to lead the expedition, but Butler, the seniormost major general of volunteers in the Army, demanded to lead the troops himself a nd Grant acquiesced. Fort Fisher, on Confederate Point, nicknamed the "Gibraltar of the Confederacy", was a formidable target commanding the Cape Fear River. It encompassed 14,500 ft. and was surrounded by a 10-foot parapet and a network of bombproofs, most of which were 30 feet high. Many obstructions were laid around it, including land mines (called torpedoes in this era), abatis, and deep ditches. There were more than 50 heavy cannon, including 15 Columbiads and a 150-pounder Armstrong gun, behind a 60-foot mound of earth near the sea, named the Mound Battery. The fort's garrison of 1,400 men was commanded by Col. William Lamb. Additional reinforcements were available from General Braxton Bragg at Sugar Loaf, 4 miles away. The Union naval expedition under Rear Adm. David D. Porter comprised the largest fleet of the war, nearly 60 warships plus troop transports to carry 6,500 soldiers. Learning that the Union troops had embarked from Hampton Roads on December 13, Confederate General Robert E. Lee dispatched a division under Maj. Gen. Robert F. Hoke to reinforce Lamb. Butler did not coordinate the timing with Porter adequately, so that when his troops departed Fort Monroe and arrived in North Carolina, the Navy had not arrived. When they did arrive from their base in Beaufort, South Carolina, the Army troops were so seasick and low on supplies that the expedition had to be reorganized at Beaufort. On December 24, the Union fleet began shelling the fort. Butler conceived a plan to load an old ship with 215 tons of gunpowder and explode it in the shallows near the fort, expecting that the blast would damage the fort and stun its garrison. The explosion was ineffectual, merely raining sand on everything. After a 12-hour naval bombardment, 2,200 men disembarked from transports at 2 p.m. on December 25 to storm the fort. The advanced guard, a brigade under Col. N. Martin Curtis, captured a 300-man unit of young boys outside of the parapets, but had to fall back under heavy cannon and small-arms fire from the garrison. The arrival of Hoke's reinforcements discouraged further Union attempts. Despite orders that he was to besiege the fort if he could not seize it, Butler called off the expedition on December 27 and returned to Fort Monroe. The fiasco at Fort Fisher gave Grant an excuse to relieve Butler, replacing him in command of the Army of the James by Maj. Gen. Edward Ord. President Abraham Lincoln, recently reelected, no longer needed to keep the prominent Democrat in the Army and he was relieved on January 8, 1865. Battle of Fort Fisher II The Second Battle of Fort Fisher was a joint assault by Union army and naval forces against Fort Fisher, outside Wilmington, North Carolina, near the end of the American Civil War. Sometimes referred to as the "Gibraltar of the South" and the last major coastal stronghold of the Confederacy, Fort Fisher had tremendous strategic value during the war. Wilmington was the last major port open to the confederacy. Ships leaving Wilmington via the Cape Fear River and setting sail for the Bahamas, Bermuda or Nova Scotia to trade cotton and tobacco for needed supplies from the British were protected by the fort. Based on the Malakoff Tower in Sevastopol, Russia, Fort Fisher was constructed mostly of earth and sand. This made absorbing the pounding of heavy fire from Union ships more effective than older fortifications constructed of mortar and bricks. Twenty-two guns faced the ocean while twenty-five faced the land. The sea face guns were mounted on twelve foot high batteries with larger, forty-five and sixty foot batteries at the southern end of the fort. Underground passageways and bombproof rooms existed below the giant earthen mounds of which the fort consisted. The fortifications were able to keep Union ships from attacking the port of Wilmington and the Cape Fear River. On December 24, 1864, Union forces under Benjamin F. Butler launched a two-day attack, but were beaten back. The loss of Fort Fisher sealed the fate of the Confederacy's last remaining sea port. A month later, a Union army under General John M. Schofield would move up the Cape Fear River and capture Wilmington. On January 16th Union celebrations were dampened when the fort's magazine exploded killing 104 Union soldiers that were sleeping on the roof of the magazine chamber. William Lamb survived the battle but spent the next 7 years on crutches. General Whiting was taken prisoner and died while in Federal captivity. Colonel Galusha Pennypacker's wounds were thought to have been fatal and General Terry assured the young man he would receive a brevet promotion to brigadier general. Pennypacker did receive a brevet promotion as Terry had promised but on February 18, 1865 he received a full promotion to brigadier general of volunteers at age 20. He remains the youngest person to hold the rank of general in the U.S. Army. Newton Martin Curtis also received a full promotion to brigadier general and both he and Pennypacker received the Medal of Honor for their part in the battle. Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton made an unexpected visit to Fort Fisher where General Terry presented him with garrison's flag. Battle of Fort Macon
The Battle of Fort Macon took place from March 23 – April 26, 1862, in Carteret County, North Carolina, as part of Union Army General Ambrose E. Burnside's North Carolina expedition during the American Civil War. In late March, Maj. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside’s army advanced on Fort Macon, a third system casemated masonry fort that commanded the channel to Beaufort, 35 miles southeast of New Bern. The Union force invested the fort with siege works and, on April 26, opened an accurate fire on the fort, which soon breached the masonry walls. Within a few hours the fort's scarp began to collapse, and the Confederates hoisted a white flag of surrender. This action demonstrated the inadequacy of masonry forts against large-bore, rifled artillery. The battle site is now Fort Macon State Park. Battle of Goldsboro Bridge The Battle of Goldsboro Bridge took place on December 17, 1862 in Wayne County, North Carolina as part of the Union expedition to Goldsboro, North Carolina during the American Civil War. In December 1862, both the Union army and Confederate forces desired to secure the strategically significant Wilmington and Weldon Railroad Bridge. On December 17, an expedition under Union Brig. Gen. John G. Foster reached the railroad near Everettsville, aiming to destroy this bridge in order to put an end to the vital supply chain from the port of Wilmington. His men began destroying the tracks north toward the Goldsborough Bridge. Clingman's Confederate brigade delayed the advance, but was unable to prevent the destruction of the bridge. Foster's troops overpowered the small amount of defending Confederate soldiers and successfully burned down the bridge. His mission accomplished, Foster departed to return to their base at New Bern. On their way back, Foster's men were again attacked by Confederate forces, but they repulsed the assault, taking far less casualties than the enemy. Foster arrived at his camp on December 20. Battle of Hatteras Inlet Batteries
The Battle of Hatteras Inlet Batteries, also known as the Battle of Forts Clark and Hatteras, took place from August 28-August 29, 1861 in Dare County, North Carolina, as part of the Carolina Coast Blockade of the American Civil War. On August 26, an amphibious Union expedition led by Maj. Gen. Benjamin F. Butler and Flag-Officer Silas Stringham, embarked from Fort Monroe to capture Hatteras Inlet, an important haven for blockade-runners. On the 28th, while the navy bombarded Forts Clark and Hatteras, Union troops came ashore and attacked the rear of the Confederate batteries. On August 29, Col. William F. Martin surrendered the Confederate garrison of 670. The Federals lost only one man. Butler returned to Fort Monroe, leaving the captured forts garrisoned. This movement was part of Union efforts to seize coastal enclaves from which to enforce the blockade. During the battle, the Cape Hatteras Light was damaged by Confederate artillery, and retreating Confederate troops seized the fresnel lens. After the war, a new lighthouse was built 600 feet inland. Battle of Kinston The Battle of Kinston was fought on December 14, 1862, in Lenoir County, North Carolina, near the town of Kinston, as part of the Goldsboro Expedition of the American Civil War. A Union expedition led by Brig. Gen. John G. Foster left New Bern in December to disrupt the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad at Goldsborough. The advance was stubbornly contested by Brig. Gen. Nathan Evans's brigade near Kinston Bridge on December 14, but the Confederates were outnumbered and withdrew north of the Neuse River in the direction of Goldsborough. Foster continued his movement the next day, taking the River Road, south of the Neuse River. Battle of Monroe's Cross Roads The Battle of Monroe’s Crossroads (also known as the Battle of Fayetteville Road, and colloquially in the North as Kilpatrick's Shirttail Skedaddle) was a battle during the Carolinas Campaign of the American Civil War in Cumberland County, North Carolina, on the grounds of the present day Fort Bragg Military Reservation. Involving about 4,000 men, it pitted mounted Confederate cavalry against dismounted Union cavalry. It was one of the last all-cavalry battles of the Civil War. The fighting lasted for several hours early on the morning of March 10, 1865, and resulted in a minor Union victory, although the Confederate attack delayed the Federal cavalry’s movement toward Fayetteville, denying Brevet Maj. Gen. Judson Kilpatrick the honor of entering the town first. The main Confederate dawn assault, under famed generals Wade Hampton and Joseph Wheeler who were operating together for the first time, was against a poorly guarded and sleeping Union camp. One of the goals (not fulfilled) was the capture of General Kilpatrick himself, using a small elite squadron of hand-picked troopers. Kilpatrick, ensconced with his mistress in a small log cabin near the farmhouse of Charles Monroe, managed to flee the chaotic scene in his nightshirt, hiding for a period in a nearby swamp before regaining his composure and reorganizing his troops. While initially routed, the Federal cavalry soon recovered and counterattacked, eventually pressuring the Confederates to relinquish the camp. Anticipating the approach of Union infantry, the Confederate commanders ordered their troops to disengage from the action in the mid-morning. Hampton’s cavalry finally withdrew in good order toward Fayetteville. The Battle of Monroe’s Crossroads gained the additional time needed for the Confederate infantry to conduct an organized crossing of the Cape Fear River at Fayetteville unmolested by the advancing Federals. With their troops and equipment east of the Cape Fear, the Confederates burned the bridges as Union forces entered the city. Battle of New Berne
The Battle of New Bern (also known as the Battle of New Berne) was fought on March 14, 1862, near the city of New Bern, North Carolina, as part of Burnside's North Carolina Expedition of the American Civil War. On March 11, Brigadier General Ambrose Burnside's command launched from Roanoke Island to rendezvous with Union gunboats at Hatteras Inlet for an attack on New Bern. The defending Confederate commander was Brigadier General Lawrence Branch. On March 13, the fleet under the command of Louis M. Goldsborough made its way up the Neuse River and disembarked on the river's south bank only a few miles from the city's defenses. On March 14, three brigades under John G. Foster, Jesse L. Reno, and John G. Parke attacked along the railroad and drove the Confederates out of their fortifications after less than a half day of fighting. The Federals captured nine forts and 41 heavy guns. Despite several Confederate attempts to recover the town, it remained an occupied Union base until the end of the war. Battle of Plymouth The Battle of Plymouth was an engagement during the American Civil War that was fought from April 17 through April 20, 1864, in Washington County, North Carolina. In a combined operation with the ironclad ram CSS Albemarle, Confederate forces under Maj. Gen. Robert F. Hoke, attacked the Federal garrison at Plymouth, North Carolina, on April 17. On April 19, the ram appeared in the river, sinking the USS Southfield, damaging the USS Miami, and driving off the other Union Navy ships supporting the Plymouth garrison. Confederate forces captured Fort Comfort, driving defenders into Fort Williams. On April 20, the garrison surrendered. Battle of Roanoke Island
The Battle of Roanoke Island, also known as the Battle of Fort Huger, took place February 7–8, 1862, in Dare County, North Carolina, as part of Union Army Brigadier General Ambrose E. Burnside's North Carolina expedition during the American Civil War. On February 7, Burnside landed 7,500 men on the southwestern side of Roanoke Island in an amphibious operation launched from Fort Monroe. The next morning, supported by gunboats, the Federals assaulted the Confederate forts on the narrow waist of the island, driving back and out-maneuvering Brig. Gen. Henry A. Wise's outnumbered command. After losing less than 100 men, the Confederate commander on the field, Col. H.M. Shaw, surrendered about 2,500 soldiers and 32 guns. Burnside had secured an important outpost on the Atlantic Coast, tightening the blockade. Battle of South Mills The Battle of South Mills, also known as the Battle of Camden, took place on April 19, 1862 in Camden County, North Carolina as part of Union Army General Ambrose E. Burnside's North Carolina expedition during the American Civil War. Learning that the Confederates were building ironclads at Norfolk, Burnside planned an expedition to destroy the Dismal Swamp Canal locks to prevent transfer of the ships to Albemarle Sound. He entrusted the operation to Brig. Gen. Jesse L. Reno's command, which embarked on transports from Roanoke Island on April 18. By midnight, the convoy reached Elizabeth City and began disembarking troops. On the morning of April 19, Reno marched north on the road to South Mills. At the crossroads a few miles below South Mills, elements of Col. Ambrose R. Wright’s command delayed the Federals until dark. Reno abandoned the expedition and withdrew during the night to the transports at Elizabeth City. The transports carried Reno’s troops to New Bern where they arrived on April 22. Battle of Tranter's Creek The Battle of Tranter's Creek took place on June 5, 1862 in Pitt County, North Carolina as part of Union Army General Ambrose E. Burnside's North Carolina expedition during the American Civil War. On June 5, Col. Robert Potter, garrison commander at Washington, North Carolina, ordered a reconnaissance in the direction of Pactolus. The 24th Massachusetts under Lt. Col. F.A. Osborne, advanced to the bridge over Tranter’s Creek, where it encountered the 44th North Carolina, under Col. George Singletary. Unable to force a crossing, Osborne brought his artillery to bear on the mill buildings in which the Confederates were barricaded. Colonel Singletary was killed in the bombardment, and his troops retreated. The Federals did not pursue and returned to their fortifications at Washington. Battle of Washington The Battle of Washington took place from March 30 to April 20, 1863, in Beaufort County, North Carolina, as part of Confederate Lt. Gen. James Longstreet's Tidewater operations during the American Civil War. While Longstreet operated against Suffolk, Maj. Gen. D. H. Hill's column moved against the Federal garrison at Washington, North Carolina. By March 30, the town was ringed with fortifications, but the Confederates were unable to shut off supplies and reinforcements arriving by ship. After a week of confusion and mismanagement, Hill was maneuvered out of his siegeworks and withdrew on April 15. Battle of White Hall The Battle of White Hall, also called the Battle of White Hall Ferry, took place on December 16, 1862, in Wayne County, North Carolina, as part of the Union expedition to Goldsboro, North Carolina, during the American Civil War. On December 16, Brig. Gen. John G. Foster's Union troops reached White Hall where Brig. Gen. Beverly Robertson's Confederate brigade was holding the north bank of the Neuse River. The Federals demonstrated against the Confederates for much of the day, attempting to fix them in position, while the main Union column continued toward the railroad. Battle of Wilmington The Battle of Wilmington was fought February 11–February 22, 1865, during the American Civil War. It was a direct result of the Union victory at the Second Battle of Fort Fisher. After the fall of Fort Fisher, Wilmington, North Carolina, was effectively lost. The city was 28 miles up the Cape Fear River from Fort Fisher and along the way was a series of Confederate defenses. In February, 1865, the Union XXIII Corps arrived to reinforce the Fort Fisher Expeditionary Corps. Maj. Gen. John M. Schofield took command of the combined force and moved against the city. Sugar Loaf Line The Battle of Wilmington consisted of three smaller engagements along the Cape Fear River. Confederate forces under General Robert Hoke occupied the Sugar Loaf Line north of Fort Fisher. On February 11 Schofield attacked the Sugar Loaf Line with Alfred Terry's corps and drove back the defenders. Next General Jacob D. Cox's 3rd Division, XXIII Corps was ferried to the west bank of the Cape Fear River to deal with Fort Anderson the main fortress guarding Wilmington. Fort Anderson Rear Admiral David D. Porter's gunboats sailed up the river and shelled Fort Anderson silencing all 12 guns. Meanwhile Cox, supported by General Adelbert Ames' division, advanced up the west bank towards the fort. Schofield depolyed two brigades to occupy the garrison while Cox and Ames marched through the swamps around the Confederate flank. The fort's commander, General Johnson Hagood sensed the trap and evacuated the fort pulling back to a stronger defensive line along Town Creek just south of Wilmington. Town Creek Cox pursued Hagood from Fort Anderson, and on February 19 caught up to the Town Creek Line while Terry's remaining troops advanced up the east bank of the river. The Confederates confronting Terry on the east bank actually outnumbered the Federals and Ames' division crossed back to the east bank. Hagood had burned the only bridge across Town Creek and entrenched on the north side of the river. On February 20 Cox's troops found a single flat-bottom boat in the river and used it to cross the creek. Cox's troops then waded through the swamp and attacked the Confederate flank routing them and taking 375 prisoners and 2 pieces of artillery. The next day Cox rebuilt the destroyed bridge and Schofield's artillery crossed and along with Porter's gunboats both were within range of the city itself. General Bragg saw the hopelessness of the situation and ordered the city abandoned. On February 22 Cox's division marched into the city. The Battle of Wilmington closed the last major port of the Confederate States on the Atlantic coast. Wilmington had served as a major port for blockade-runners, running tobacco, cotton, and other goods to places such as Britain, the Bahamas, and Bermuda. Now with the port closed, the Union blockade was complete. Bragg ordered bales of cotton and tobacco burned so that they would not fall into Union hands. Schofield's forces were reorganized into the Army of the Ohio and from Wilmington he marched inland to join with the rest of General William T. Sherman's forces. Battle of Wyse Fork The Battle of Wyse Fork was a battle fought in the Carolinas Campaign of the American Civil War, resulting in a Union army victory. At the end of February 1865 the port city of Wilmington had fallen to Union troops under the command of Major General John M. Schofield. Schofield was then to move his forces inland from the coast and join with Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman's forces at Goldsboro, North Carolina, where three Union armies would move against a Confederate army being gathered under Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston. Schofield, with the units from Alfred Terry's Expeditionary Corps, moved north from Wilmington, while Maj. Gen. Jacob D. Cox took his XXIII Corps division and sailed up the coast and landed at New Bern, North Carolina. At New Bern, the Union forces were increased to three divisions and formed into a Provisional Corps with Cox in command. Moving towards Goldsboro, the Union forces repaired the railroad which was to function as a supply route for Sherman's Army Group. Johnston's army was too far away to move against Schofield's divided forces, but General Braxton Bragg's forces, falling back from Wilmington, were within striking distance. Bragg moved against Cox near Kinston. On March 7, Federal advance units encountered Bragg's entrenched forces along Southwest Creek east of Kinston. Bragg's position not only blocked Cox's path but threatened a vital cross road and the New Bern-Goldsboro Railroad. Cox saw the importance of this position and moved forward the divisions of Brigadier General Innis N. Palmer to protect the railroad and Maj. Gen. Samuel P. Carter to protect the roads. Bragg's forces were also reinforced by veterans from the Army of Tennessee and the North Carolina Junior Reserves, all under the command of General D.H. Hill. Reinforced, Bragg went on the offensive and sent a division under North Carolina native Robert Hoke into the Union left flank. Hoke's attack hit a New England brigade in Carter's division, capturing an entire regiment. Hill joined the advance with the Junior Reserves but they panicked and refused to go any further. Hill left them behind and moved on with his veterans, hitting the Union brigade and defeating it. Disaster threatened the Union flank when Bragg stopped Hill's advance and sent him far to the north to counterattack a Union threat. When Hill arrived he found no Federals in sight. At this time Cox, who had been away from the front lines, returned and moved up his reserve division under Maj. Gen. Thomas H. Ruger to plug the gap between Palmer and Carter. Skirmishing continued for the next few days until Hoke tried again to turn the Federal left flank on March 10. The Federal position had been strongly fortified by artillery and repulsed Hoke's attack within an hour. Hill then moved against the Union center but again Federal artillery proved decisive and the attackers were repulsed. The remaining elements from the Federal XXIII Corps, which had just arrived in New Bern from Tennessee, were moving on Kinston. Facing five Union divisions, Bragg withdrew. Bragg had only momentarily been able to check Cox's advance. Schofield's forces reached two full corps and were organized into the Army of the Ohio. Sherman's armies, which had just defeated Johnston's army at Bentonville, joined with Schofield at Goldsboro on March 23. Facing three Union armies, Johnston retreated to the north and on April 26 Johnston surrendered to Sherman. Information obtained from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.