From the
Trenches
BENTONVILLE
BATTLEFIELD
STATE
HISTORIC SITE
Volume IV, Issue I
Winter 2014
Amanda Brantley , Editor
Inside this
Issue
Manager’s
Message
Page 3
Friends of
Bentonville
Update
Page 4 & 5
2013 in Review
Page 6 & 7
Upcoming Special
Events
Page 9
News from North Carolina’s Premier Civil War Battlefield Site and the Friends of Bentonville Battlefield.
Wary Warriors: The Draft in Confederate North Carolina
BY DERRICK BROWN, ASSISTANT SITE MANAGER
Shortly after North Carolina’s withdrawal from the Union, military recruiters in the state
were literally overwhelmed by the number of volunteers who answered Governor John Ellis’s call
for 30,000 troops. Many of these would-be soldiers were sent home for want of materials to
equip them. The military situation had changed tremendously by the following year with hundreds
of thousands of volunteers enlisted across the Confederacy,
but still many more were needed to combat Federal invasions on many fronts. This prompted the adoption of the
first of a series of acts by the Confederate government in
Richmond to implement compulsory military service for certain segments of the white male population. Despite protest
from Raleigh about the technicalities and even the existence
of the law North Carolina was soon enlisting volunteers
under the threat of conscription, and outright draftees. According to historian Walter Hilderman nearly half of the
state’s 130,000 soldiers would enlist because they were
drafted or knew they soon would be. It must have seemed
bitterly ironic to state leaders that less than a year after
turning recruits away that they were enforcing conscription
in the Tar Heel State.1
Despite their 1861 successes at battles like Manassas and Wilson’s Creek the Confederacy was in desperate
shape on nearly all fronts by early 1862. The U.S. Navy had
implemented a blockade of the seacoast and was starting to
gain control of the Mississippi River, Confederates had lost
several battles in Tennessee, and most alarmingly they were
being forced back on the Virginia Peninsula towards their
new capital, Richmond. North Carolina had even been invadNC recruitment poster threatening
ed with the Federals occupying most of the northeastern
conscription, February 1863.
coastline of the state by the early spring. Reinforcements
North Carolina Collection,
were being called for on all fronts, but the number of volunThe Wilson Library, UNC
teers had decreased dramatically after the initial war enthusiasm of 1861 had waned. To make matters worse many of the initial Confederate recruits, and
over half of the regiments from North Carolina had been enlisted as 12 month volunteers. Their
enlistments were set to expire just as they were needed most, but little could be done to entice
them to reenlist. It was juxtaposed against this crisis that the Confederate Congress at the behest
of President Jefferson Davis reluctantly approved the Conscription Act of April 1862. 2
Besides its importance to historians as the first national compulsory military service law
in American history, the primary short-term effect of the law was the extension of the twelve
month enlistments to three years, thus temporarily averting the impending disaster. The act also
gave the Davis administration the ability to draft white males between age 18 and 35 with the cooperation of the states, a power that was necessarily called upon almost immediately. Although
Page 2
Volume IV, Issue I
Wary Warriors
CONTINED FROM PAGE 1
the act was intended to enforce compulsory service, there were exceptions built in from the beginning and many additional
exemptions added to it over the remainder of 1862. The initial exemptions allowed for the hiring of a substitute if the draftee
could afford one. This naturally struck a negative chord with those that could not afford one. Additional exceptions were
made for a long list of occupations deemed vital to the war effort, government officials, and for those who owned more than
twenty slaves. To make the law more palatable for potential draftees a moratorium of several months was built in to allow
them to “voluntarily” enlist instead of facing the perceived dishonor attached to conscription. 3
The conscription laws were immediately unpopular across the Confederacy, but nowhere more so than North Carolina. North Carolina had responded early and with great zeal to Confederacy’s call for volunteers, and many felt that being
called on for additional men was not fair to the Tar Heel State that had given so much already. The exemptions that seemed
more favorable to wealthier states were a huge bone of contention. The prevalence of individuals owning twenty slaves thus
meeting the exemption was far lower in North Carolina than some other Confederate states. The entire notion of conscription was unpalatable to some who felt that the states had left the Union to escape just such oppression from a central government. Even the Chief Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court challenged conscription as unconstitutional. Although
they responded with empathy to these criticisms, North Carolina’s war governors vowed to enforce conscription to the best
of their abilities. By war’s end, nearly a quarter of all draftees in the Confederacy were North Carolinians, proving the governors true to their word.4
As the second half of the war turned against the Confederacy the age ranges of conscription were expanded and the
list of exemptions was curtailed. Substitutions were eventually eliminated in late 1863. Many substitutes had not remained
with their units, and presumably were being paid to enlist multiple times in different companies. There was also the notion
that these individuals were themselves subject to the conscription laws and should not be able to take someone else’s place.
Exemptions were eventually decreased because over a third of fighting age men could claim some sort of exemption. This
caused considerable controversy between Raleigh and Richmond because many of North Carolinas exemptions were at the
state government’s behest. Conscription gained further teeth by a series of acts from late 1862-1864 expanding the age ranges for service. By 1864 nearly all white men between the ages of 18 and 45 were supposed to be in active duty service for the
Confederacy with 17 year olds and those between 45 and 50 forming a junior and senior reserve system. Many of those that
had previously had exemptions were to be enlisted and “detailed” back home from the army if truly necessary. 5
Despite its unpopularity in North Carolina, the state had enlisted over 20,000 conscripts by the spring of 1865. Perhaps as many as 40,000 others enlisted with the threat of being drafted hanging over their heads. Still others resisted, either
as individuals or as armed groups, hiding out in forests, swamps, and on mountains. Open conflict often broke out between
state militia and groups avoiding the draft. Compounding this problem were thousands of conscripts and volunteers who deserted from the army. Yet even if these dissenters had been enlisted it probably would not have made much difference in the
long run. Conscription was a huge boost to Confederate manpower, and was somewhat effectively managed in North Carolina, but at best was considered a necessary evil that prolonged the war. At worse, it was seen in North Carolina as one more
unfair burden for a state already bearing a disproportionate share of the Confederate war effort. 6
Notes:
1.
John G. Barrett, The Civil War in North Carolina (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1963), 18, 29, 183; Walter C.
Hilderman III, They Went into the Fight Cheering: Confederate Conscription in North Carolina (Boone, NC: Parkway Publishers, Inc., 2005),
xv, 4; Walker to Davis, July 24, 1861, The United States War Department, The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records
of the Union and Confederate Armies (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1880-1901), Series IV, Volume 1, 497.
2.
William L. Shaw, “The Conscription and Exemption Acts,” The American Journal of Legal History 6 (Oct., 1962): 372-373; Davis to
the Senate and House of Representatives of the Confederate States, March 28, 1862, The War of the Rebellion, IV, Vol. 1, 1031.
3.
Hilderman, They Went into the Fight Cheering, 22-23; Shaw, “The Conscription and Exemption Acts,” 373-374, 379-381.
4.
Barrett, The Civil War in North Carolina, 183-184, 242; Gordon B. McKinney, Zeb Vance: North Carolina’s Civil War Governor and
Gilded Age Political Leader (Chapel Hill: UNC Press, 2004), 117.
5.
Shaw, “The Conscription and Exemption Acts,” 376-377, 383; McKinney, Zeb Vance, 143-144.
6.
Hilderman, They Went into the Fight Cheering, xv, 23; McKinney, Zeb Vance, 143-144; Barrett, The Civil War in North Carolina, 242;
Daniel J. Salemson, “Conscription,” in William S. Powell ed., The Encyclopedia of North Carolina, (Chapel Hill: UNC Press, 2006) 277278.
From the Trenches
Page 3
They Went into the fight Cheering!
For more information on Conscription in North Carolina, you can purchase
“They Went into the Fight Cheering: Confederate Conscription in North Carolina” by Walter C. Hilderman III. The book is available from Blair Publishing and
on Amazon. Mr. Hilderman will also be speaking at our 149th Anniversary Program “Forced to Fight” March 15 & 16 at 1:00 pm each day.
Manager’s Message
BY DONNY TAYLOR, SITE MANAGER
As we begin another year we will be carrying over some projects from 2013 and building on new enhancements,
knowledge and interpretation of the battlefield. Continuing projects will be the walking trail, scanning the Mark Bradley
research files, battlefield tours and building more membership in the Friends of Bentonville Battlefield, Inc. (FoBB). New
projects will be the installation of more Tour Stops and a ground penetrating radar (GPR) survey behind the Harper
House. In addition to this will be our normal programming schedule and planning for the 150 th Anniversary Battle reenactment March 21 & 22, 2015. For more information about the reenactment visit the website at www.150thbentonville.com.
The staff and volunteers have worked during the year to clear trails along existing trenches adjacent to Federal
General William P. Carlin’s line and the Confederate Army of Tennessee (AOT) line of March 19, 1865. Staff member
Johnny Carter opened a rough trail behind the AOT line and volunteers worked to complete the finishing touches along
this line. The connections between these lines are in open fields and we have marked these trail areas across the fields so
crops will not be planted along the open parts of the trail. More work will be accomplished the spring to put these connecting trails in useable condition. Plans are to accomplish as much work as possible this spring because after July we will
be focusing on the 150th reenactment.
Dr. Roy Stine, Professor of Geography at the University of North Carolina Greensboro was to execute a ground
penetrating radar survey behind the Harper House February 6-8, however due to rain in the weather forecast this has
been rescheduled for March 27-29, 2014. This survey is an attempt to locate any building formations, graves from the
hospital and any evidence of the burial of amputated limbs. If scheduling permits this will be followed up in June with a
week long archeological fields school to investigate the GPR findings. This is very exciting to us and we hope it yields
some interesting results that we can incorporate into our interpretations. We would like to thank UNC Greensboro,
Bentonville Battlefield Historical Association, Inc. and the Friends of Bentonville Battlefield, Inc. for funding this worthwhile project.
This year will also see the construction of three, and hopefully four additional tour stops on the battlefield driving tour which should be completed early March of 2015, just prior to the 150 th Anniversary Reenactment. Funding for
this project is provided by an enhancement grant from the NC Department of Transportation and the Bentonville Battlefield Historical Association, Inc. If the funding is available to complete all four tour stops this should complete the interpretation of the driving tour. We would like to thank everyone involved in the funding of this important project.
I would like to thank the members of the Friends of Bentonville Battlefield, Inc. who continue to work hard to
develop their organization and fundraising. Their hard work paid off in 2013 by receiving a grant from an anonymous donor matching dollar for dollar for each dollar they raised. I am pleased to say they maxed out the grant. If you would like
to become a member or desire more information you can visit their website at www.fobb.net.
Come to Bentonville Battlefield in 2014, take a tour of the Harper House, see our exhibits, and drive the battlefield. Nearly 50,000 people visited last year and maybe you can help make this year even better.
Until next time,
Volume IV, Issue I
Page 4
Roll of Honor
Did you have an ancestor fight at Bentonville? If so, we would
love to know their story! Submit them on our Roll of Honor and
tell their story. To add their name to the list go to http://
www.fobb.net/roll-of-honor. For $10.00 their
name will get added to the Roll of Honor. All proceeds go to the Friends of Bentonville Battlefield,
Inc. to help with preservation and protection of
the battlefield.
Join the Friends of Bentonville, Inc.
Membership Information
The Friends of Bentonville Battlefield, Inc. is dedicated to supporting the preservation,
interpretation, maintenance, and operations of the battlefield.
Memberships start at $15.00!
Join online at www.fobb.net
Page 5
From the Trenches
Letter From the President
BY DEAN HARRY, PRESIDENT
Dear Members and Friends,
As we prepare for a new year, I would like to take a moment to reflect on the brief history of the Friends of
Bentonville Battlefield. Our first year, 2012, was primarily dedicated to the process and logistics of becoming a Friends
group. We were busy establishing the corporate structure, and completing the logistical tasks necessary to becoming
recognized as the official partner of the Bentonville Battlefield State Historic Site. Our goals for 2013 were to establish
programs and complete projects designed to further our basic mission of enhancing the operation, preservation and
interpretation of the battlefield and state historic site. In order to help accomplish that mission, at our meeting in January of 2013 we voted to assist in the following projects:
We wanted to help establish a Certified Guide program. With our assistance, the first battlefield guide was
certified in March of 2013 and a program of monthly battlefield tours was established. Certified Battlefield Guides now
are available for group battlefield tours and leadership seminars. We believe this program will enhance Bentonville experience for our visitors and help increase the visibility of this important historic site.
We wanted to sponsor the North Carolina 1865 Civil War
Symposium. Last September saw the Friends undertake its first major
project, The Civil War Symposium. This event gathered an impressive list
of speakers, anchored by Ed Bearss and Mark Bradley to discuss the role
of North Carolina in the Civil War. It included Saturday lectures and ended on Sunday with a three hour bus tour of the battlefield led by Ed and
Mark. By all standards, the event was immensely successful and while the
Friends certainly cannot take all the credit, Friends members were active
partners with the Bentonville staff in making the event a huge success.
We wanted to assist in work days on the battlefield. Since our
meeting last January, Friends members have participated in work day projects that have opened up important walking trails on battlefield. Visitors
can now walk along the Union earthworks built by the men of General Volunteers help clear portions of the walking trail
Carlin’s division and Confederate earthworks built by the men of the Arduring a FOBB work day.
my of Tennessee. Battlefield visitors will soon be able to access important
areas of the battlefield that were difficult or impossible to visit before. Establishing walking trails on the battlefield is an
ongoing project that will continue to receive our support.
We wanted to raise money to be able to support our projects and the operation of the historic site. As
fund raising projects, the Friends sponsored a raffle for a trip to Gettysburg, we sponsored the Civil War Symposium
and we secured an anonymous donor who agreed to a dollar for dollar match of any funds we could raise, up to
$10,000. We established a goal of raising at least $8,000 for this matching fund project. I’m happy to report that, thanks
to your memberships and the success of these projects, we exceeded our goal and were able to secure the entire
$10,000 in matching funds.
I think that you, the members of the Friends of Bentonville Battlefield, should be proud of your accomplishments in 2013, but there is still much work to be done. We are undertaking our largest project to date, sponsorship of
the Bentonville’s sesquicentennial battle reenactment in 2015. This is a huge undertaking and there will be numerous
opportunities for our members to help make this last major battle reenactment of the Civil War sesquicentennial a
huge success. No matter what your experience and skills, there will be some way you can help. Please take this opportunity to get involved. I look forward to working with each and every one of you in 2014. Thank you for your continuing support.
President, Friends of Bentonville Battlefield, Inc.
Page 6
Volume IV, Issue I
A YEAR IN REVIEW
Page 7
From the Trenches
A YEAR IN REVIEW
Page 8
From the Trenches
Join us on April 5 at 10:00am to participate in the Civil War Trust’s Park Day 2014!
Volunteers, please contact Amanda Brantley at (910) 594-0789 to sign up.
Lunch will be provided.
Scene of the last major Confederate offensive of the Civil War
The Battle of Bentonville, fought March 19-21, 1865, was the last full-scale action of
the Civil War in which a Confederate army was able to mount a tactical offensive. This
major battle, the largest ever fought in North Carolina, was 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.
BENTONVILLE
BATTLEFIELD
STATE HISTORIC
SITE
Today, visitors can take a self-guided driving tour of the preserved battlefield and
view four wayside exhibit areas, follow a short walking trail to view original trenches
from the battle, and visit the Harper family cemetery and monument area. The Visitor
Center contains exhibits and a brief orientation film. Guided tours of the c. 1855 Harper House, a Union field hospital, are available on the hour beginning at 10:00 a.m.
with the last tour at 4:00 p.m.
5466 Harper House Rd
Four Oaks, NC 27524
Phone: 910-594-0789
Fax: 910-594-0070
E-mail:
[email protected]
Site Hours
Tuesday through
Saturday
9 am–5 pm
Closed Sundays and
Mondays
Call for Holiday
Schedule
Admission is FREE
Site Staff
Donny Taylor, Site Manager
Derrick Brown, Assistant Site
Manager
Amanda Brantley, Programs
Coordinator
Jeff Fritzinger, Interpreter
Johnny Carter, Maintenance
Mechanic
Website
http://
www.nchistoricsites.org
/bentonvi/bentonvi.htm
Become a fan of Bentonville Battlefield on
Facebook!
Like the Friends of Bentonville on Facebook!
Upcoming Special Events
March 15-16, 2014
“Forced to Fight”
149th Battle Anniversary
Bentonville’s 149th Anniversary
program will bring the realities of
war home to North Carolina. The
Civil War is not going well for the
Confederacy. The draft has been
called out, again. Costumed living
historians will portray raw conscripts being trained for war. Artillery and civilian demonstrations
will also be on display. Visitors
will also be given a chance to learn
the period manual of arms that
was used by the common infantry
soldier. 10:00am –4:00pm
April 5, 2014
Park Day
This is an annual event sponsored
by the Civil War Trust focused on
battlefield clean up. Bentonville
will be focusing on clearing extensions of the walking trail.
Bring small yard tools (rakes,
clippers, etc.) to help. Lunch
will be provided for all volunteers. Please call (910) 594-0789
to sign up! Work will begin at
10:00 am.
June 14, 2013
“A Day in the Life of a
Civil War Soldier”
The sounds of artillery and musket fire will once again ring out
at Bentonville Battlefield during
our Summer Seasonal Living
History Event. Re-enactors
from the 18th NC/9th NJ and 1st
NC/11th NC will be on hand to
discuss the typical soldier’s life,
uniform and equipment. Artillery and musket demonstrations
will be held throughout the day.
10:00 am- 4:00 pm