Mystery Map

Article by Operations Manager Derrick Brown, 20 December 2024

As part of an ongoing project to further our knowledge of the Bentonville community in 1865, I have been researching local citizens who took advantage of the Southern Claims Commission in the 1870s. Because claimants were forced to file detailed petitions describing their property and identify corroborating witnesses who could attest to their devotion to the United States, their depositions are a remarkable tool as we try to envision Bentonville on the eve of battle. This research will assist in the completion of a cultural landscape report in 2025 or 2026, an important step toward restoring the battlefield to its 1865 appearance.

As is so often the case when researching one Bentonville topic, I inadvertently stumble upon a document that has nothing to do with the subject I need, but nevertheless sends me down a rabbit hole of curiosity. In this case it was a map I found in the National Archives digitized database labeled as  “Surveys near the Battle Field of Bentonsville [Bentonville], North Carolina.” The map can be found at the following link:  https://catalog.archives.gov/id/271844884.

This map isn’t a new discovery by any means – I personally have seen it multiple times. However, its perceived value has been minimal due to it being virtually unlabeled. A cursory glance typically leads to me moving on because I haven’t been able to figure out the map location. There isn’t even a compass rose or a scale of miles and it lists no town names. There is some faint text such as the word “Sherman,” which can clearly be seen in at least three spots. As I was about to move on, I noticed a circle at the bottom of the map with very faint text that read, “Camp 18 M. 65,” which was truly a eureka moment. Because of excellent research by historians like Dr. Mark L. Bradley and Mark A. Moore we know the approximate location of Maj. Gen. W.T. Sherman’s camp on March 18, 1865. It was located on the west side of a small tributary of Mill Creek on the Averasboro-Goldsboro Road at a Mr. Underwood’s home. This road is now Harper House Road, and the camp’s location is approximately halfway between modern U.S. HWY 701 and N.C. 50, two miles north of Newton Grove.

Because the Bentonville area had been settled for over one-hundred years by the 1860s, and nearly 200 years when modern roads were first constructed in the 20th century, the best transportation corridors had long been established and there was little need for highway engineers to change them. This proves to be a major bonus for Carolinas Campaign historians because we know that Sherman’s armies likely traversed routes that (mostly) still exist. His Left Wing, the Army of Georgia, traveled the Averasboro-Goldsboro Road, which in the Bentonville area is SR 1008, now called Harper House Road in Johnston County and Stevens Mill Road in Wayne County. The decision of Confederate Gen. Joseph E. Johston to block this road on March 19 near Bentonville lead to the battle.

Sherman’s Right Wing was assigned a more southerly route from Newton Grove, which took one corps on modern U.S. HWY 13 and the other on modern N.C. HWY 55. Until March 18, Sherman accompanied the Left Wing because he figured – correctly as it turned out – that wing was in greater danger of ambush by the Confederates. Reasoning this risk had passed, Sherman shifted his headquarters to the Right Wing early on March 19. A simple inspection of the properly oriented map (below) shows Sherman’s likely personal route to travel from one wing to the other. This becomes clear when you look at this map compared to a satellite image of modern local roads (later in article). Whoever drew the 1865 map was likely with Sherman and was very talented. It is eerie how closely this hand drawn sketch matches the satellite view of local roads.

The map above primarily depicts Sherman’s travels and thus the area of Harper House Road between Highway 701 and Devil’s Racetrack Road isn’t shown. Sherman never made it to the scene of the March 19th engagement between the Left Wing and Johnston’s army, which prevented the map maker from surveying that portion of the Goldsboro (Harper House) Road. Sherman’s route took him through modern Newton Grove and Grantham. He camped at Falling Creek Church on the 19th, where he ordered the Right Wing to turn north and eventually west to threaten the rear of the Confederate army on March 20.[1]

To illustrate the similarity of this area’s historic roads to modern roads, one needs to look no further than the map below. Although there was no historical antecedent for Highway 701, the other roads very much existed in 1865. It was easy to track Sherman’s movements because the road shapes are very similar in nearly every case. This includes the subtle curvature of Williams Road where Sherman departed the Left Wing.  Remarkably, our 19th century cartographer perfectly nailed this little curve.

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Driving this twenty-five-mile route today seems exhausting until you think about the poor soldiers who covered it on foot in a day and a half, and then went right into battle. Sherman on the other hand, likely rode Duke or Lexington, his two favorite horses at this point in the war. Finds like these give us insight into the toughness of our forebearers.

Now where was I with those Southern Claims Commission case files?

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[1] It is unclear if Sherman’s camp was at Falling Creek Baptist or Falling Creek Methodist Church as the churches are less than one mile away from each other.