Battle of Averasborough facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Battle of Averasborough
Part of the Campaign of the Carolinas
Date March 16, 1865 (1865-03-16) Location Harnett County and Cumberland County, North Carolina Result Inconclusive
Belligerents
United States (Union)	CSA (Confederacy)
Commanders and leaders
William T. Sherman	William J. Hardee
Units involved
Army of Georgia	Hardee's Corps
Strength
12,000	7,000
Casualties and losses
700	500

The Battle of Averasborough or the Battle of Averasboro, 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

The Battle of Averasborough was fought on the grounds of Oak Grove, near Erwin, 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 520 acres (2.1 km²) of the Averasborough battlefield.

Map by the American Battlefield Protection Program

Map from The Record of the Fifty-Fifth Ohio Volunteer Infantry (1904)

Casualties

The Confederates had not held up the Union Army as long as they had hoped. Each side suffered about 700 casualties; however, these were losses the Federals could afford while the Confederates could not.