FOUR OAKS—Come listen to Civil War reenactors talk about camp life during the bloody 1860s conflict and see how soldiers lived, during Bentonville Battlefield State Historic Site’s summer living history program Saturday, Aug. 23, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m..
Costumed “soldiers” from the 27th Regiment of N.C. State Troops will present demonstrations and give talks evoking the daily routine and challenges faced by the average Confederate soldier.
The program is designed to allow visitors to interact with the period-costumed reenactors on a more personal level than during a conventional reenactment. Throughout the day, visitors can stroll through a small military camp and see the uniforms and equipment worn and used by Confederate soldiers. At 10:30 a.m., 12:30 p.m. and 2:30 p.m., the sounds of muskets will fill the air during exciting demonstrations.
At 11:30 a.m. and again at 1:30 and 3:30 p.m., volunteers and staff will also fire a typical big gun of the period during an artillery demonstration. Field artillery played a key role in the Battle of Bentonville, the last major Confederate offensive of the Civil War. According to one soldier: “The artillery was so loud that we had to yell to make our nearest neighbors understand us…while the ground trembled under our feet,” and another who “ ‘drew a good bow’ at Gettysburg and Chancellorsville, says we never witnessed such artillery fire.” The gun being fired in this demonstration will be a three-inch ordnance rifle, a weapon often used on Civil War battlefields and whose massive roar few soldiers ever forgot.
Fought March 19-21, 1865, the Battle of Bentonville was the largest offensive ever mounted in North Carolina and the only significant attempt to defeat the large Union army of Gen. William T. Sherman during its march through the Carolinas in the spring of 1865. After the battle, which took place east of the family home of John and Amy Harper, Sherman’s army left the Bentonville area, taking with it all of its wounded.
Left behind were many bloodied and broken Confederate soldiers treated in the Harpers’ own house, which served as a field hospital during the battle. Many of these men later died and were buried on the family farm. Sometime in the 1890s, their remains were moved and reburied elsewhere at the battlefield site. Over the years, the exact location of this grave site was lost.
Bentonville Battlefield State Historic Site’s mission is to preserve and interpret the history of the Battle of Bentonville, North Carolina’s largest Civil War battle.
The site is located three miles north of Newton Grove on Highway 701 and then three miles east on SR 1008. There are marked exits from both I-95 and I-40. For more information on Bentonville Battlefield State Historic Site, call (910) 594-0789 or check out our web page at http://www.nchistoricsites.org/bentonvi/bentonvi.htm.
Administered by the Division of State Historic Sites, the Bentonville Battlefield site is part of the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources, a state agency dedicated to the promotion and protection of North Carolina’s arts, history and culture. Join the Cultural Resources 2008 theme observance of “Telling Our Stories.” For more information, visit www.ncculture.com.