Historic Markers

	#32 - "Oak Grove" - Plantation home of John Smith, used as a Confederate hospital during the Battle of Averasboro, March 16, 1865 NC 82 north of Godwin
	#33 - Federal Artillery - From a point 50 yards west three batteries of artillery under Major J.A. Reynolds shelled the confederate first line of earthworks. NC 82 north of Godwin
	#34 - Federal Hospital - The 1865 home of William Smith, 100 yards E., was used as a hospital for Union troops in the Battle of Averasboro, March 15-16, 1865. NC 82 north of Godwin
	#35 - Prelude to Averasboro - Late in 1864, two large Union armies, one in Virginia and the other in Georgia, were beginning to squeeze the Confederacy to defeat. Grant held Lee's Army of Northern Virginia immobile at Petersburg, while Sherman, with 60,000 men, captured Atlanta and began the famous March to the Sea. Savannah fell by Christmas, 1864 and in mid-January, 1865, Sherman's invasion of the Carolinas was begun. Columbia was captured on February 17th and Fayetteville on March 11th. After leaving Fayetteville, Sherman sought to confuse General Joseph E. Johnston's Confederate forces by making a pretended advance against Raleigh with the left wing of his army. This wing, commanded by General H. W. Slocum, began its march from Fayetteville along Old Stage Road (Present U.S. 401), which connected with Raleigh. Some 25miles above Fayetteville the road branched near the village of Averasboro: one branch continued north to Raleigh, the other ran to the east toward Smithfield and Goldsboro. While Sherman's left wing moved in the direction of Averasboro, his right wing advanced toward Goldsboro on a parallel road about 20 miles to the east. The Confederates faced a difficult military situation in North Carolina By mid-March, 1865. General Johnston, ordered to stop Sherman, found his small army scattered over a wide area. It would take time to organize the various units into an effective fighting force. The only corps in position to hinder the Union advance was the 6,500-man force under General W.J. Hardee. This corps was ordered to resist Slocum's advance, thus began the Battle of Averasboro. NC 82 North of Godwin
	#36 - Battle of Averasboro-Phase One - You are standing near the center of the first phase of fighting in the Battle of Averasboro, March 15-16, 1865. On March 15th the left wing of General Sherman's Union Army, Commanded by general H. W. Slocum, was advancing along this road from Fayetteville to Averasboro. General H. J. Kilpatrick's cavalry division was in the lead, skirmishing with General Joseph wheeler's Confederate cavalry, which contested the Union advance. At 3:00pm the Union forces struck a heavy Confederate skirmish line. General Smith Atkin's 9th Michigan Cavalry drove the skirmishers back into first of three lines of breastworks erected across the road. The Union cavalry then constructed heavy barricades in front of the Confederate works. At 6:00pm confederate General W. B. Taliaferro, whose division was holding position, ordered an attack along his line. The Union forces, though Hard-pressed, were able to hold their position due to the arrival of reinforcements from the 14th corps. Nightfall found the two armies in nearly the same positions they had throughout the afternoon. General W. T. Sherman, Union commander, arrived on the field during the night. At 6:00am on March 16th, the Union forces attacked Taliaferro's line, driving the Confederates before them. Then the Southerners launched a desperate counter-attack. A disaster for the Union forces was averted when portions of the 20th corps arrived upon the field. Three batteries of artillery werePlaced in position near the john Smith House. These began firing upon the Confederates, driving them back into their breastworks. At 11:00 am two newly arrived Union brigades engaged the Confederates in front, while the brigade of Colonel Henry Case assaulted the Confederate right flank. This attack forced the Confederates to Withdraw into their second line of works. NOTE: For the remainder of the battle, drive two miles north on this road and read the map marker on phase two of this battle. NC 82 North of Godwin
	#38 - John England - 1786-1842 Bishop of Charleston. He organized Roman Catholics in NC at Fayetteville convention, & consecrated St. Patrick Church, 1829. Present church 4/10 mi. East. Owen Drive at Village Drive
	#42 - Moore's Camp - From February 15 to 21, 1776, the days leading up to the Battle of Moores Creek Bridge, Whig forces under commander Colonel James Moore camped on Rockfish Creek and fortified the encampment with over 1,000 men and five artillery pieces. Moore was trying to block the Loyalists’s most direct route to the coast. NC 87 south of Fayetteville
	#45 - Lewis Leary 1835-1859 - Free Black abolitionist and conspirator in 1859 with John Brown in attack on U.S. arsenal at Harpers Ferry. Killed in live assault. Lived in Fayetteville. Murchison Road at Washington Drive in Fayetteville.
	#46 - Omar Ibn Said ca. 1770-1863 - Muslim slave & scholar. African-born, he penned autiobiography in Arabic, 1831. Lived in Bladen County and worshipped with local Presbyterians. Murchison Road in Fayetteville