Bentonville NC020

disputedunresolved Slocum says an escaped cavalry officer told him Johnston's main army was at or near Raleigh, deserters confirmed it, and he reported to Sherman that only cavalry with a few guns was in his front; a deserter then told him Johnston had concentrated his army in his front, and he took a defensive position. Johnston says cavalry reports on the 18th showed the Union army moving toward Goldsborough with probably a day's march between the wings, that the map misled him about Hardee's march, and that he believed the Union reinforcements about 6 o'clock were the Seventeenth Corps. Slocum names Twentieth Corps brigades as the troops that came up on the 19th and says the Right Wing came up on the morning of the 21st.

Attributed knowledge from interested reports. Johnston's belief that the Seventeenth Corps arrived on the 19th conflicts with Slocum's account; neither is adopted.

supportedunresolved Slocum sent Williams's wagons to the right on the Fifteenth Corps road and put dismounted foragers in the ranks. Johnston says he held his ground on the 20th and 21st to cover the removal of his wounded to the railroad at Smithfield, brought off three captured guns but left a fourth for want of horses, and his addenda record 108 Confederate wounded left on the morning of March 22 at Bentonville and at Harper's.

Transport and evacuation statements from interested reports; no quartermaster or medical return was inspected beyond the addenda note.

supportedunresolved Johnston says that, judging the wings a day's march apart, he determined to attack the Left Wing, and that on the 20th and 21st he held his position to cover the removal of wounded and occupy the Union army. Slocum says that once he learned Johnston's army was in his front he took a defensive position and communicated with Sherman. NPS says Johnston had concentrated to meet Slocum's advance.

Stated aims from interested reports and a modern summary.

disputedpost_outcome The frozen and live results read Union victory. Johnston reported that on the 19th he routed the Union troops, capturing three guns, until they rallied a mile in the rear; that he did not renew the attack on the 20th; and that on the 21st the Seventeenth Corps' penetration was driven back. Slocum says the Confederates were repulsed at all points on the 19th, the ground lost in the first attack was regained, and during the night of the 21st they retreated across Mill Creek, burning the bridge. NPS says Union pursuit on the 22nd saved the bridge.

Retain the original result and engagement interval; later movements and campaign contribution are different measures. No new probabilities or individual causal credit. Slocum's burned bridge and NPS's saved bridge differ; both are preserved. Johnston's March 27 report implies four Union guns taken on the 19th (three brought off and a fourth left), while Slocum says three pieces were captured; the difference is recorded, not adjudicated.

disputedpost_outcome The frozen casualty text reads 4,738 (US 1,646; CS 3,092); the live field reads 4,133 (US 1,527; CS 2,606). The No. 3 return gives Sherman's army a grand total of 1,527 for March 19–21. Johnston's report gives his loss for the three days as 224 killed, 1,470 wounded and about 600 missing; the 'Casualties at Bentonville' table in his addenda, whose rows include Hoke's division on March 22 (6) and the cavalry for March 18 to 21 (113), recapitulates 2,462 (239 killed, 1,550 wounded, 673 missing), with a compiler's footnote that the next statement shows 1,694 wounded; that statement, headed March 19 to 21, has a legible grand total ending '239 1,694 2, 606'. Johnston says the Union loss could not be estimated. Slocum gives only campaign-wide losses for his wing (2,352).

Original casualty returns were not inspected; preserve totals, categories, cutoffs and differences. No canonical reconciliation or casualty-based opening count; related actions must not be added without resolving population overlap. The No. 3 return is a later compilation from nominal lists; its regimental columns are largely garbled in OCR and only the final totals are relied on. The Kinston and Bentonville grand-total lines print killed, wounded and missing figures that sum to their totals; the Averasborough recapitulation is garbled and its final 682 is read by position. A live NPS figure that matches it is not independent corroboration. Johnston's three Confederate totals (about 2,294 from his letter's components, 2,462 and 2,606) are preserved; the live CS 2,606 matches the last. Slocum's campaign total is not assigned to this record. The 2,462 table includes rows dated March 22 and March 18 to 21, outside the frozen interval; it is not a strict three-day total.

supportedunresolved The frozen commanders are General Johnston (CS) and Major Generals Sherman and Slocum (US); the live page lists Sherman and 'Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Johnston' and omits Slocum. Slocum describes directing the defence on the 19th and credits Davis and Williams; his contact with Sherman is by messages. Johnston says Hardee made the charge of the 19th and once led the advance, and that on the 21st Hardee met the Union penetration with Cumming's brigade while Hampton and Wheeler directed cavalry on its flanks. NPS says Mower led his division into Johnston's rear and that Sherman was inclined to let Johnston retreat.

Direction is attributed as the sources state; the inspected passages do not show Sherman directing on March 19. No listed commander receives automatic sole credit.

unknownunresolved

No inspected return establishes matched personnel at a common opening boundary. The frozen side-specific numerical strength bounds are blank (missing_numeric_strength). No figure in this pass is adopted as a simultaneous opening force.

disputedunresolved The frozen force text reads Sherman's Right Wing (XX and XIV Corps) against Johnston's Army, with no numbers; the live field reads zeros. The Fourteenth and Twentieth Corps formed Slocum's Left Wing by his report heading and Johnston's account, and NPS says the Right Wing was under Howard. Johnston gave effective totals of infantry and artillery on March 18 (Bragg 6,500; Hardee 7,500; Army of Tennessee 4,000); his rough field return gives Bragg 4,775 infantry and 782 artillery and Stewart 3,956 infantry on the 17th and Hardee 5,400 infantry on the morning of the 19th, 14,913 in all; his March 27 report says he took about 15,000 into action on the 19th against above 20,000 before an hour garbled in OCR ('0 o’clock'), then increased by about 10,000, and near 44,000 on the 20th and 21st, including losses. Slocum relays a deserter's statement that Johnston's force was understood to be 40,000.

Johnston's figures are dated returns and estimates of different populations; his estimates of the Union force and the deserter's 40,000 are hearsay. The frozen 'Right Wing' label conflicts with the inspected sources. None is adopted as a matched opening strength; live zeros are not measured absence.

supportedunresolved Johnston says the ground north of the road was open and south of it covered with thickets, that a single road through dense blackjack slowed his movements, that the Fourteenth Corps rallied on the Twentieth in young pines with its right on a swamp and covered by entrenchments, and that but for the thickets he would have beaten both corps before 5 o'clock. Slocum found the Confederates entrenched where the Smithfield road meets the Goldsborough road. NPS says Johnston contracted his line into a V with Mill Creek in his rear and that Mower crossed Mill Creek by a narrow trace.

The woods, swamp and creek predate the action; the entrenchments on both sides were made during the approach or the fighting. The tag stays unresolved.