This Astounding Close: The Road to Bennett Place

by Mark L. Bradley

Overview

Even after Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox, the Civil War continued to be fought, and surrenders negotiated, on different fronts. The most notable of these occurred at Bennett Place, near Durham, North Carolina, when Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston surrendered the Army of Tennessee to Union General William T. Sherman. In this first full-length examination of the end of the war in North Carolina, Mark Bradley traces the campaign leading up to Bennett Place.

Alternating between Union and Confederate points of view and drawing on his readings of primary sources, including numerous eyewitness accounts and the final muster rolls of the Army of Tennessee, Bradley depicts the action as it was experienced by the troops and the civilians in their path. He offers new information about the morale of the Army of Tennessee during its final confrontation with Sherman’s much larger Union army. And he advances a fresh interpretation of Sherman’s and Johnston’s roles in the final negotiations for the surrender.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780807877067
Publisher:	The University of North Carolina Press
Publication date:	12/29/2006
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	432
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Mark L. Bradley is author of Last Stand in the Carolinas: The Battle of Bentonville. He lives in Graham, North Carolina.

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Preface

Once before in my life the accomplishment of hopes long and anxiously dwelt on, ever present, and which entered into all my thoughts, left me without even the power to express or give utterance to the joy & thankfulness which filled my heart. Something similar is the effect upon me of this astounding close of the most terrible contest of modern times. At last, Peace, blessed God-given Peace, is so near that we can hear her gracious voice and her gentle foot-fall over fields too long drenched with fraternal blood. . . . God be praised! God help us all, "loyal" and "rebel" alike, to take to heart the terrible lessons of the last five years, and alike to shun the errors, the follies and the crimes, which brought upon us all such discipline.
--Maj. Henry Hitchcock to his wife, Mary, April 16, 1865

When I began this project ten years ago, I knew the road would lead to Bennett Place, but I assumed little else. I intended to tell the story of Sherman's campaigns in North Carolina, bearing in mind that as the year 1865 opened, Northern victory and Southern defeat appeared imminent, but none of the participants could predict when and how the end would come, or how much death and destruction would occur in the meantime. My first objective was to convey that sense of foreboding and uncertainty in describing the final month of the war in North Carolina.

During my research, I discovered that only part of the Bennett Place story has been told. Most previous studies have treated the end of the Civil War in North Carolina as a brief episode within a larger narrative framework, thereby omitting many important details of the military operations in central North Carolina, the effect of those operations on the Bennett Place conferences, Gen. Joseph E. Johnston's role in those negotiations, and the final days of Johnston's Army of Tennessee. A few unpublished studies investigate the morale of the Confederate forces facing Sherman's army during the last year of the war, but they do not provide a detailed profile of Johnston's army during its final weeks. The closing chapter in the tragic saga of the Army of Tennessee deserves to be told.

I have discovered that in April 1865 the Army of Tennessee was larger, better equipped, and better supplied than has generally been thought and that morale remained surprisingly good. Confederate muster rolls indicate that the fall of Richmond and Lee's surrender at Appomattox Court House caused some desertions but did not break the army's spirit. Only when rumors of its own surrender began to spread on the afternoon of April 16 did the Army of Tennessee collapse.

Johnston also deserves more credit for his accomplishments in April 1865. By keeping his army intact and as much as eighty miles from Sherman's, the Confederate commander was able to negotiate from a position of strength. Sherman knew that Johnston could have led his army on a march into the Deep South and prolonged the war indefinitely, and this knowledge contributed to his decision to offer his adversary generous terms. When Sherman's original surrender agreement was disapproved in Washington, a persistent Johnston still managed to obtain better terms for his troops than Lee's soldiers had received at Appomattox.

Sherman's role is less crucial than is generally thought. It was Lee's surrender, not the half-hearted pursuit of Sherman's forces, that induced Johnston to negotiate with his Federal counterpart. Though Sherman's role as peacemaker should not be dismissed, it was Johnston who initiated the negotiations and dictated the first proposed terms, which no doubt influenced Sherman's own first agreement.

I perceive this book as a necessary sequel to my study on the Battle of Bentonville, which told only the first half of the story. My keenest regret in completing this project is that I am taking leave of some compelling characters. William T. Sherman and Joseph E. Johnston remain embroiled in controversy to this day. Few characters in our history inspire such extremes of hatred and admiration as "Uncle Billy." "Old Joe" has also come under fire from historians in recent years, but his star now appears to be in the ascendant. For all the vicissitudes their reputations have undergone, however, Sherman and Johnston formed a lifelong bond during the Bennett Place negotiations.

In striking contrast, the mutual enmity of Confederate cavalry commander Wade Hampton and his Union counterpart, Judson Kilpatrick, resulted in a heated confrontation outside the Bennett farmhouse. Other memorable characters include Governor Zebulon B. Vance, the remarkable "War Governor" of North Carolina; Union general John A. "Black Jack" Logan, who prevented a mob of his soldiers from burning Raleigh, North Carolina; Lieutenant Walsh of the 11th Texas Cavalry, whose rashness jeopardized the Tar Heel capital and cost him his life; Federal secretary of war Edwin M. Stanton, whose machinations so infuriated Sherman; and railroad conductor Dallas Ward, who participated in the Vance peace mission to Sherman and witnessed both the Confederate evacuation and the Federal occupation of the state capital. Presidents Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis also make several brief but crucial appearances in the story.

The epigraph is from a letter written by Sherman staff officer Maj. Henry Hitchcock in response to news that Johnston had agreed to meet Sherman to discuss surrender terms. Johnston's reply arrived at Sherman's headquarters on April 16, two days after Lincoln's assassination, but one day before the news reached Raleigh. Hitchcock hoped that God would enable "loyal" and "rebel" alike to profit from the terrible lessons of the war; the quotation marks imply that there were no longer Yankees and Rebels, but only Americans. As Lincoln had noted in his second inaugural address, both regions shared guilt for the war and atoned for it with their blood. Both Lincoln and Hitchcock described the outcome of the war as "astounding"--a word that connotes neither triumph nor defeat, but rather awe and astonishment.

Table of Contents

Preface
Acknowledgments

1. No Such Army since the Days of Julius Caesar
2. As Good as a Picnic and Three Circuses
3. The Skeleton Army
4. The Final Scene of the Drama Is at Hand
5. We Are Not Enemies, I Hope?
6. To Obtain Fair Terms of Peace
7. The Best I Can Do
8. Conquered but Not Subdued
9. Do You Bring Back Peace or War?
10. Slide Back into the Union
Epilogue. "Old Joe" and "Uncle Billy"

Appendix A. Postmaster General John H. Reagan's "Basis of Pacification," April 18, 1865
Appendix B. Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman's "Memorandum or Basis of Agreement," April 18, 1865
Appendix C. Maj. Gen. John M. Schofield's "Terms of a Military Convention" and "Supplemental Terms," April 26, 1865
Appendix D. Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's Terms of Agreement Entered into with Gen. Robert E. Lee at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, April 9, 1865, and Supplementary Terms, April 10, 1865
Appendix E. Text of Parole Issued to Confederate Soldiers in North Carolina
Appendix F. Organization of Union Forces
Appendix G. Organization of Confederate Forces
Notes
Bibliography
Index

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

One of those truly outstanding works that no casual reader will fail to enjoy or serious student of the Civil War want to miss.—Civil War News

Bradley's book is readable, interesting, and informative.—Journal of American History

A remarkable book which shows years of painstaking research and a talent to weave the essence of the situation into an easily read and followed story. . . . Serious scholars of the Civil War will find This Astounding Close a valuable study.—On Point

Belongs on the shelf of every Civil War buff.—Blue & Gray Magazine

A well-documented and careful analysis of the political and military situation within which Sherman and Johnston maneuvered and negotiated in the six weeks after Bentonville. It is an interesting story, told with considerable skill. . . . Bradley is to be commended for a well-written and impressively researched monograph on a long ignored subject.—Civil War History

A superb study that incorporates the best of new military history.—Civil War Book Review

Well-written, and covering a significant but neglected topic, this book is a worthy sequel to Bradley's earlier study of Bentonville.—North & South

This volume sweeps aside a shelf of studies previously done on the end of hostilities in North Carolina. It is going to be a basic reference on the subject longer than the works it replaces. In addition, the book is a fascinating read.—Richmond Times Dispatch

By casting his lens on the final days of the Army of Tennessee, [Bradley] sheds light on a neglected chapter of the Civil War story. . . . Thoroughly researched.—Our State

[Bradley] paints a very different picture of the soldier known to his men as 'Uncle Billy.' . . . Even though we know the outcome of the story, Bradley manages to imbue his tale with moments of high drama. . . . Fascinating.—Durham Herald-Sun

Editorial Reviews

Belongs on the shelf of every Civil War buff.

Blue & Gray

A well-documented and careful analysis of the political and military situation within which Sherman and Johnston maneuvered and negotiated in the six weeks after Bentonville. It is an interesting story, told with considerable skill.

Civil War History

A superb study that incorporates the best of new military history.

Civil War Book Review

Well-written, and covering a significant but neglected topic, this book is a worthy sequel to Bradley's earlier study of Bentonville.

North & South

This volume sweeps aside a shelf of studies previously done on the end of hostilities in North Carolina. It is going to be a basic reference on the subject longer than the works it replaces.

Richmond Times Dispatch

Bradley paints a very different picture of the soldier known to his men as 'Uncle Billy'. . . . Even though we know the outcome of the story, Bradley manages to imbue his tale with moments of high drama. . . . Fascinating.

Durham Herald-Sun

"Belongs on the shelf of every Civil War buff."
"Blue & Gray"

"A remarkable book of painstaking research. Serious scholars of the Civil War will find "This Astounding Close" a valuable study."
"On Point"

"A superb study that incorporates the best of new military history."
"Civil War Book Review"

"A well-documented and careful analysis. Bradley is to be commended for a well-written and impressively researched monograph."
"Civil War History"

"Bradley's book is readable, interesting, and informative."
"Journal of American History"

From the Publisher