At this point in the war Union victory was inevitable. U.S. Grant was beseiging Petersburg and was only weeks away from a breakthrough and William T. Sherman’s army was on his way to help. His men had already marched through Georgia and South Carolina and now they were in North Carolina advancing at a steady pace. Very little opposed them in terms of Confederate resistance.
Sherman had his army divided into two columns, one under Oliver Howard and the other under Henry Slocum. The Confederates only hope was to catch one column separated from the other and destroy it and that was what Joseph Johnston intended to do. William Hardee’s Corps was sent to hit Slocum as it marched towards Raleigh.
On the morning of March 16 the two sides met at Averasborough (alternately spelled as Averasboro and pronounced Averysboro). The day initially went well for the Confederates when two Union divisions were driven back by Hardee’s attack. Hardee had 7,000 men at his disposal with his right flank protected by the Cape Fear River and he outnumbered the two Union divisions. Union reinforcements arrived on the field and stopped Hardee’s attack and a counterattack drove back Hardee’s first two lines but was brought to a halt by his third line. Hardee knew he was in trouble with more Union reinforcements arriving he cut his losses and withdrew. At this point the Union had 12,000 men on the field. Hardee had done nothing other than increase the list of casualties and delay Sherman.
Hardee lost about 500 men and Slocum lost about 700 men. Sherman did not want to fight a major battle as transporting casualties would be difficult but at this point he was nearing the coast and would be able to send any casualties there to be transported away to hospitals. Despite that Hardee had bought one day’s worth of time to slow Sherman down and give Johnston the opportunity to give it another go. Johnston would try again three days later at Bentonville. What is left of the battlefield today is preserved as the Averasboro Battlefield Historic District.
