With less than half as many men as Sherman's sixty thousand, Johnston knew his only chance for success lay in the possibility of finding Sherman's army divided. Miserable road conditions forced Sherman to divide his command into two wings, and on March 18 Johnston learned that the sections had become separated by a half-day's march. Sensing the opportunity to strike one of the wings with his force of about twenty thosand, the Confederate general moved his troops into position near the village of Bentonville.

On the evening of March 18, Johnston organized his forces into a sickle-shaped line along the Goldsboro road and waited for the advancing Federals. The following day Sherman's left wing stumbled into Johnston's trap. Initial Confederate attacks overran large sections of Federal lines. One Union division managed to hold on despite being surrounded by Confederate adversaries. Failing to completely crush the Union lines, Johnston's Confederates pulled back into positions held earlier in the day. Sherman's right wing arrived on the battlefield early on March 20, ending Johnston's hope of dealing with a smaller Union force

Nearer and nearer they came. . . When not over forty or fifty paces from us, the order so anxiously awaited was given, and a sheet of fire blazed out from the hidden battle line. . .that was demoralizing and fatal to the enemy. They battled, reeled, and staggered, while we poured volley after volley into them, and great gaps were made in their line, as brave Federals fell everywhere. . .

-A Confederate soldier's account of a Union assault, March 19, 1865

For two days the opposing forces faced each other. Cannon and rifle fire were constant. On March 21, a Federal advance commanded by Gen. J.A. Mower approached within two hundered yards of General Johnston's headquarters before being driven back. That evening Johnston's weary troops abandoned their positions and withdrew toward Smithfield. Federal forces observed but did not pursue the Confederates. Johnston failed to halt the Union advance, and Sherman's army marched on to Goldsboro, where supplies awaited the tired troops. On April 26, at the Bennett Place near Durham, Johnston surrendered to Sherman, ending the Civil War in the Carolinas.

The Battle of Bentonville was fought over an area of six thousand acres. More than four thousand men were reported killed, wounded, or missing during the three-day battle. During the confrontation, wounded Union soldiers were taken to the farm home of John and Amy Harper, where a field hospital was established. Some wounded Confederates were likewise treated at this facility.

A dozen surgeons and attendants in their shirtsleeves stood at rude benches cutting off arms and legs and throwing them out the windows, where they lay scattered on the grass. The legs of infantrymen could be distinguished from those of the calvary by the size of their calves, as the march of 1,000 miles had increased the size of one and diminished the size of the other.

-Remembrances of Bentonville by Lt. Col. William Hamilton, Ninth Ohio Calvary