Eleven battles and seventy-three skirmishes were fought in North Carolina during the Civil War. Although the number of men involved in many of these engagements was comparatively small, the campaigns and battles themselves were crucial in the grand strategy of the conflict and involved some of the most famous generals of the war. John Barrett presents the complete story of military engagements across the state, including the classical pitched battle of Bentonville, the siege of Fort Fisher, the amphibious campaigns on the coast, and cavalry sweeps such as Stoneman's raid. From and through North Carolina, men and supplies went to Lee's army in Virginia, making the Tar Heel state critical to Lee's ability to remain in the field during the closing months of the war, when the Union had cut off the West and Gulf South. This dependence upon North Carolina led to Stoneman's cavalry raid and Sherman's march through the state in 1865, the latter of which brought the horrors of total war and eventual defeat.

The Civil War in North Carolina

History

Barrett, John G.

Americas

The University of North Carolina Press

Eleven battles and seventy-three skirmishes were fought in North Carolina during the Civil War. Although the number of men involved in many of these engagements was comparatively small, the campaigns and battles themselves were crucial in the grand strategy of the conflict and involved some of the most famous generals of the war. John Barrett presents the complete story of military engagements across the state, including the classical pitched battle of Bentonville, the siege of Fort Fisher, the amphibious campaigns on the coast, and cavalry sweeps such as Stoneman's raid. From and through North Carolina, men and supplies went to Lee's army in Virginia, making the Tar Heel state critical to Lee's ability to remain in the field during the closing months of the war, when the Union had cut off the West and Gulf South. This dependence upon North Carolina led to Stoneman's cavalry raid and Sherman's march through the state in 1865, the latter of which brought the horrors of total war and eventual defeat.

In retrospect, General William Tecumseh Sherman considered his march through the Carolinas the greatest of his military feats, greater even than the Georgia campaign. When he set out northward from Savannah with 60,000 veteran soldiers in January 1865, he was more convinced than ever that the bold application of his ideas of total war could speedily end the conflict. John Barrett's story of what happened in the three months that followed is based on printed memoirs and documentary records of those who fought and of the civilians who lived in the path of Sherman's onslaught. The burning of Columbia, the battle of Bentonville, and Joseph E. Johnston's surrender nine days after Appomattox are at the center of the story, but Barrett also focuses on other aspects of the campaign, such as the undisciplined pillaging of the 'bummers,' and on its effects on local populations.

Sherman's March Through the Carolinas

This collection of primary source material chronicles the Civil War experiences of North Carolinians from the secession crisis to the Confederate surrender at Bennett Place. In contrast to other works on the Civil War, this book focuses not on military events but on the larger issue of the societal costs of such conflicts. Through selections from diaries, newspapers, letters, official records, and other documentary sources, it offers a sober account of the intense human and economic suffering endured by the state and illustrates the complicated political realities of wartime North Carolina.

North Carolina Civil War Documentary

This popular title presents an overview of Civil War North Carolina, with information on secession, preparations for war, battles fought in North Carolina, blockade-running, and the coming of peace. The book contains a map of North Carolina, 1861-1865.

North Carolina as a Civil War Battleground, 1861-1865

North Carolina Office of Archives and History

“I do not know of any other soldier account which gives a more realistic and vivid representation of what a Civil War battle was like. . . . It is of exceptional merit and interest. Its excellence is so outstanding as to set it apart from the general run of published (and unpublished) personal narrative.” —Bell Irwin Wiley “Richard B. Harwell, who knows as much about Confederate lore as anyone, finds Patterson’s diary ‘the finest personal narrative of Confederate experiences since Henry Kyd Douglas’s I Rode with Stonewall.’ Happily, Yankee Rebel, long out of print, can now be shared with new generations of readers.” —from the Foreword by Nathaniel Cheairs Hughes Jr. Edmund DeWitt Patterson was nineteen when the Civil War began. Born in Ohio, he had left home just after his seventeenth birthday and gone south to seek his fortune, first as a book salesman, then as a schoolmaster and clerk. When the war broke out, he volunteered for the army of the Confederacy, much to the dismay of his Unionist family. The day he enlisted he began a diary that, for the sharpness of its observations and the literary force of its narration, makes it a splendid firsthand account of the Civil War. Patterson, who later had a distinguished career as a lawyer and judge in Tennessee, was more than a soldier. He was a scholar, reporter, humorist, and everyday philosopher of surprisingly mature views—for he was not old enough to vote until the war was half over. Patterson’s journal, originally published in 1966, moves through his participation in the major battles of Williamsburg, Seven Pines, Seven Days, Fredericksburg, his capture at Gettysburg, and his months in a Federal prison within a few miles of his Northern family. The accounts of combat are vivid and moving, not only telling in detail what happened in battle but also giving a clear and realistic account of the author’s reactions to combat. Engaging and valuable information on morale, religion, diversions, food, shelter, clothing, attitudes toward Federals, and relations with comrades—all enlivened with Patterson’s delightful sense of humor—make this a journal of outstanding quality. The latter portion of the diary provides a fresh and absorbing account of his prison life on Johnson’s Island in Lake Erie and his exchange and return to Richmond in the final days of the war. “I do not know of any other soldier account which gives a more realistic and vivid representation of what a Civil War battle was like. . . . It is of exceptional merit and interest. Its excellence is so outstanding as to set it apart from the general run of published (and unpublished) personal narrative.” —Bell Irwin Wiley “Richard B. Harwell, who knows as much about Confederate lore as anyone, finds Patterson’s diary ‘the finest personal narrative of Confederate experiences since Henry Kyd Douglas’s I Rode with Stonewall.’ Happily, Yankee Rebel, long out of print, can now be shared with new generations of readers.” —from the Foreword by Nathaniel Cheairs Hughes Jr. Edmund DeWitt Patterson was nineteen when the Civil War began. Born in Ohio, he had left home just after his seventeenth birthday and gone south to seek his fortune, first as a book salesman, then as a schoolmaster and clerk. When the war broke out, he volunteered for the army of the Confederacy, much to the dismay of his Unionist family. The day he enlisted he began a diary that, for the sharpness of its observations and the literary force of its narration, makes it a splendid firsthand account of the Civil War. Patterson, who later had a distinguished career as a lawyer and judge in Tennessee, was more than a soldier. He was a scholar, reporter, humorist, and everyday philosopher of surprisingly mature views—for he was not old enough to vote until the war was half over. Patterson’s journal, originally published in 1966, moves through his participation in the major battles of Williamsburg, Seven Pines, Seven Days, Fredericksburg, his capture at Gettysburg, and his months in a Federal prison within a few miles of his Northern family. The accounts of combat are vivid and moving, not only telling in detail what happened in battle but also giving a clear and realistic account of the author’s reactions to combat. Engaging and valuable information on morale, religion, diversions, food, shelter, clothing, attitudes toward Federals, and relations with comrades—all enlivened with Patterson’s delightful sense of humor—make this a journal of outstanding quality. The latter portion of the diary provides a fresh and absorbing account of his prison life on Johnson’s Island in Lake Erie and his exchange and return to Richmond in the final days of the war. John G. Barrett is professor emeritus of history at Virginia Military Institute. He is author of The Civil War in North Carolina and Sherman’s March Through the Carolinas and coeditor of North Carolina Civil War Documentary and Letters of a New Market Cadet.

Yankee Rebel: The Civil War Journal Of Edmund Dewitt Patterson (Voices of the Civil War)

Univ Tennessee Press

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Books by Barrett, John G.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Barrett, John G.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Civil War in North Carolina

The Civil War in North Carolina

Sherman's March Through the Carolinas

North Carolina Civil War Documentary

North Carolina as a Civil War Battleground, 1861-1865

Yankee Rebel: The Civil War Journal Of Edmund Dewitt Patterson (Voices of the Civil War)