Page 63 - Armstrong Bloodline - ebook_Neat

The casualties during the entire
campaign are numerically as follows:

Left sick in hospital -- 59
Absent without leave -- 20
Captured while foraging -- 2
Died of disease -- 5

Killed in action:
Enlisted men -- 14
Officers -- 1

Wounded in action and absent in
hospital Union artillery in action on the Morris Farm during the
Enlisted men -- 65 Battle of Bentonville, March 19, 1865. Image from Harper's Weekly.
Officers -- 1

Captured in action, enlisted men -- 1

Missing in action:
Enlisted men -- 9
Officers -- 1
Deserters -- 4
Detailed men -- 14

Total Absent
Enlisted men -- 194
Officers -- 3

For a number of reasons, the aforementioned Battle of Mill Creek deserves a bit closer look. The dawn of
Sunday, March 19, at Bentonville, SC was bright and clear, not unlike another Sunday near Shiloh, Tennessee
nearly three years earlier. Abandoned apple and peach orchards bloomed and the swamps were filled with the
songs of wild birds. As Union troops moved to break camp they were immediately met by Rebel skirmishers
who stopped their advance. An infantry brigade was called up to clear the area and they, in turn, were met by
musketry and cannon fire. Thus began the first full-scale encounter since the bloody battle for Atlanta; it was
also to be the last major battle of the Civil War.

A veteran colonel in Sherman's army commented: “Seldom have I seen
such continuous and remorseless roll of musketry. It seemed more
than men could bear...Soldiers in the command that have passed
through scores of battles...never saw anything like the fighting at
Bentonville. The battle of Bentonville resulted in a total of more than
4000 union and rebel casualties.”

I have personally visited the battlefield at Bentonville, and much of it is a densely wooded setting with
extremely limited visibility. If the area was similar back in 1865, you couldn’t see clearly in any direction for
more than a few feet and your enemy could easily have appeared suddenly near you from any direction

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