Village of Bentonville

Village of Bentonville. . You are looking at the village of Bentonville. This small hamlet bore the name of the largest battle ever fought in North Carolina. Named after local resident John Benton, the hamlet had a post office as early as 1849. In the 1860s Bentonville was a marketplace for naval stores and had a small carriage shop., During the battle, several homes in the village served as Confederate hospitals, which treated men from both sides. At one point during Mower’s charge, wounded Confederates fled as Union soldiers approached the field hospital in John Benton’s yard. Johnston’s main goal was removal of the wounded, which was “maddening slow” because he had no ambulances and very few wagons. He delayed withdrawal of his army from March 20 to the 21st, when all wounded who could be transported were removed before midnight. Sixty-three Confederate wounded, however, were left behind in the village and eventually carried to Smithfield., “The field hospital of General Johnston’s army was close by, and as the command passed down the road, we could see men escaping from the hospital and a general scattering of men, evidencing that something of a stirring nature was happening….” , Soldier of Col. Baxter Smith’s 4th Tennessee Cavalry describing Mower’s advance., “[Bentonville] consists of scarcely a dozen small unpainted weather-beaten dwellings. Two or three of these primitive tenements were still occupied by several severely wounded rebel soldiers. They were destitute of hospital conveniences, were indifferently attended and appeared to be subsisting on the plainest quality of food.” , Surgeon J.A. Mowris, 117th N.Y., passing through 3 weeks after the battle., “Logan’s [XV] corps went into Bentonville and brought off a large number of our wounded left by the enemy in his hasty flight. Many of their wounded were found and paroled, and everywhere along the line of their retreat dead rebels were found…no point could be selected in that pine woods where rebel dead were not in view.” , E.D. Westfall, New York Herald correspondent traveling with the Federal Left Wing.