DOCUMENT RESUME ED 468 399 SO 031 683 Goode, John C.; Beck, Elaine AUTHOR The Battle of Bentonville: Caring for Casualties of the Civil TITLE War. Teaching with Historic Places. National Park Service (Dept. of Interior), Washington, DC. INSTITUTION National Register of Historic Places. 2000-00-00 PUB DATE NOTE 29p. Teaching with Historic Places, National Register of Historic AVAILABLE FROM Places, National Park Service, 1849 C Street NW, Suite NC400, Washington, DC 20240. Tel: 202-208-6843. For full text: http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/69bentonville/ 69bentonville,htm. Classroom Guides PUB TYPE Teacher (052) EDRS Price MF01/PCO2 Plus Postage. EDRS PRICE *Civil War (United States); Heritage Education; *Historic DESCRIPTORS Sites; History Instruction; Intermediate Grades; Medical Services; Medicine; Primary Sources; Secondary Education; Social Studies; State History; *United States History; War Military History; National Register of Historic Places; North IDENTIFIERS Carolina ABSTRACT At the First Battle of Manassas (Virginia) in 1861 many Union doctors fled the battlefield in fear. Those who remained found themselves without adequate medical supplies or ambulances for their patients. As the U.S. Civil War progressed and casualties mounted, military surgeons became more adept at caring for the wounded. By the Battle of Bentonville (North Carolina), one of the last major engagements of the Civil War, the U.S. Army medical department had developed an effective system for operating field hospitals and an ambulance corps. The improved organization was typical of the advances in logistics that aided the Union's war effort. This lesson is based on the Bentonville Battle Ground State Historic Site. It describes and discusses the state of medicine and medical services at the Bentonville battlefield. The lesson plan can be used in units on the Civil War. The lesson is divided into seven sections: "About This Lesson"; (2) "Setting (1) the Stage: Historical Context"; "Locating the Site: Maps" (Sherman's (3) March; The Battle of Bentonville); (4) "Determining the Facts: Readings" (From Incompetence to Proficiency: The Development of Union Medical Care; Fighting and Treatment at the Battle of Bentonville; Wounded on the Field of Battle; Victims of Circumstance: Ordeal of the Harper Family); (5) "Visual Evidence: Images" (An Amputation at Camp Letterman; An Early Army "Putting It All Together: Field Hospital; The Harper House); (6) Activities" (Once a Soldier; The Other Side; On the Homefront; A Popular Example; In Your Own Community); and (7) "Supplementary Resources." (RJC) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. The National Park Sec.\ ie-C Teaching with Historic Places The Battle of Bentonville: Caring for Casualties of the Civil War Teaching with Historic Places National Register of Historic Places National Park Service 1849 C. Street, N.W., Suite NC400 i Washington, D.C. 20240 U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office of Educational Research and Improvement EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) This document has been reproduced as received from the person or organization originating it. Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality. Points of view or opinions stated in this document do not necessarily represent official OERI position or policy. http://www.cr.nps.govindtwhp/wwwlps/lessons/69bentonville/69bento nville.htm 2000 FcT COPY AVAILABLE 2 National Register of Teaching with Historic Places (TwHP) is a program of the National Park Service, Historic Places. The National Register is maintained by the cultural resources U.S. Department of Interior, as the nations's official list of engineering, and culture. significant in American history, architecture, archeology, Training Initiative and Parks TwHP is sponsored, in part, by the Cultural Resources National Park Service. This lesson is one in a series as Classrooms programs of the classrooms across the that brings the important stories of historic places into Historic Places, National country. For more information, contact Teaching with Washington, D.C. Register of Historic places, 1849 C Street, NW, Suite NC400, 20240, or visit the program's Web site at wviw.cr.nps.gov/nr/twhp. 3 The Battle of Bentonville: Caring for Casualties of the Civil War March 19, 1865, dawned soft and balmy in central North Carolina. A brass band played the hymn "Old Hundred." The hymn's tranquil strains reminded the 30,000 men on the Left Wing of Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman's Union army group that it was Sunday, while blossoming fruit trees called to mind quiet homes and families far away. Many of the soldiers looked forward to the end of the war, which now seemed imminent. But the idle thoughts of a Sunday morning exploded as the Federals approached the (Bentonville Battleground State Historic Park) farming community of Bentonville. Just outside of town 20,000 tattered Confederates, the remainder of a once-powerful army, attacked the Union troops. Dreams of joyous reunions were soon replaced by the carnage of war, and men who had marched to the front now lay wounded on the battlefield. Four years earlier, at the beginning of the war, these men might have remained, untreated, on the battlefield for days. At the First Battle of Manassas in 1861, for example, many Union doctors fled in fear and those who stayed found themselves without adequate supplies or ambulances for their patients. As the war progressed and casualties mounted, however, military surgeons became more adept at caring for wounded. By the Battle of Bentonville, one of the last major engagements of the Civil War, the United States Army Medical Department had developed an effective system for operating field hospitals and an ambulance corps. This improved organization was typical of the advances in logistics that helped the North's war effort. This lesson is based on the Betnonville Battle Ground State Historic Site, one of more than 71,000 properties listed in the National Register of Historic Places. 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS About This Lesson Setting the Stage: Historical Context Locating the Site: Maps Sherman's March 1. The Battle of Bentonville 2. Determining the Facts: Readings From Incompetence to Proficiency: The Development of Union Medical 1. Care Fighting and Treatment at the Battle of Bentonville 2. Wounded on the Field of Battle 3. Victims of Circumstance: Ordeal of the Harper Family 4. Visual Evidence: Images An amputation at Camp Letterman 1. An early army field hospital 2. The Harper House 3. Putting It All Together: Activities Once a Soldier 1. The Other Side 2. On the Homefront 3. A Popular Example 4. In Your Own Community 5. Supplementary Resources About This Lesson This lesson is based on the National Register of Historic Places registration file, "Bentonville Battleground State Historic Site" and other sources. It was written by John C. Goode, Historic Site Manager at Bentonville Battleground State Historic Site, and Elaine Beck, Curator of Education for the North Carolina Historic Sites Section. Where it fits into the curriculum Topics: The lesson could be used in units on the Civil War. Students will strengthen their skills of observation, research, and analysis of a variety sources. Time period: Late 19th Century Objectives for students To trace how the Union Army's organization of medical care in the field 1) developed between the battles of First Manassas in 1861 and Bentonville in1865. To identify criteria considered important by Union surgeons in determining 2) locations for the placement of field hospitals. To understand the experience of a wounded soldier at the end of the Civil 3) War, from his removal from the battlefield through his treatment at a field hospital. To examine how a battle affected nearby families. 4) To gather information on the experiences of members of volunteer service 5) organizations or the medical profession within their community who have been involved with trauma-related situations. Materials for students The materials listed below either can be used directly on the computer or can be printed out, photocopied, and distributed to students. two maps showing Sherman's march and the Battle of Bentonville; 1) four readings demonstrating the development of Union medicine during 2) the Civil War, including several personal observations; three photographs of field medicine, an army hospital, and the Harper 3) House. Visiting the site Of the 6,000 acres on which the Battle of Bentonville occurred, only 120 are maintained today as Bentonville Battleground State Historic Site. The battleground is maintained by an agency of the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources, and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. It is located in southeastern Johnston County on State Road 1008, six miles east of Interstate 40 and 15 miles southeast of Interstate 95. There are marked exits for the battlefield on both interstates. From April 1 through October 31, the site is open Monday-Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and on Sunday from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Winter hours are in effect from November 1 through March 31, when the site is open Tuesday-Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., and 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Sunday. The site is closed on Monday during its winter schedule, as well as on New Year's Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. For additional information, contact the Historic Site Manager, 5466 Harper House Road, Four Oaks, North Carolina, 27524 or visit the park's web pages at http://www.ah.dcr.state.nc.us/sections/hs/bentonvi/bentonvi.htm 7 Setting the Stage After the fall of Atlanta on September 2, 1864, 60,000 Union soldiers under the command of Maj. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman marched more than 1,000 miles through the South. By March 1865, they were in the middle of North Carolina, heading north with the intention of joining forces with Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant. Grant's men, now besieging the Confederate capital of Richmond, were just 75 miles away. As part of his attempt to defend Richmond and nearby Petersburg, Gen. Robert E. Lee assigned Gen. Joseph E. Johnston to stop Sherman's forces from entering Virginia. In central North Carolina Johnston managed to piece together a rag-tag army of 20,000 men. He maneuvered to take advantage of Sherman's decision to divide his army into two columns to increase its mobility. On the morning of March 19, just south of the village of Bentonville, Johnston attacked Sherman's Left Wing, which had fallen half a day behind the Right. Although this offensive made considerable progress, Union troops staged a resolute defense that afternoon to prevent a Confederate breakthrough. The other half of Sherman's army arrived the next afternoon, and the battle continued until Johnston withdrew from the field on the night of March 21. The three days of fighting involved more than 90,000 men and ranged across nearly 6,000 acres of land. General Johnston's attack, which took place just three weeks before General Lee's surrender at Appomattox Court House, was the only major attempt to stop Sherman's army after Atlanta and the last Confederate offensive. The Battle of Bentonville, as it became known, resulted in more than 4,000 casualties. Many of the wounded found themselves in a field hospital set up by Sherman's Fourteenth Army Corps. Its surgeons, searching for a safe location, chose the modest two-story farm home of John and Amy Harper, and wounded began streaming to this makeshift medical facility within minutes of its establishment a mile from the chaotic front lines. Throughout March 19 and 20, Federal surgeons at the Harper House treated a total of 554 men, both Union and Confederate. Without the benefit of antibiotics to stop infection, doctors amputated shattered arms and legs to prevent gangrene from claiming their patients' lives. Despite the screams of the wounded, the piles of severed limbs, and the stench of blood and chloroform (an anesthetic used by Union surgeons) that pervaded the Harper House, the family refused to leave their home during this time. Locating the Site Map 1: General Sherman's March 'ASIIINGTON. DC / I r . .., . . . i en ic d hm- R .., - . ., _(__,-, etersbur / --w. KENTUCKY .. 1 ... ' 1 . . .J.- VIRGINIA ------ 1 . ...- ...- ' ..". ---4--------' . e .. - .." 71 % I i I .../ TEN NE-SSEE j 1 \ ..... .. 14 1 I ykRalelgtil i NORTH . ,f,f;oldfibor,r, / CAROLINA ,..:'.... / f I ...:I7.-.,, I/C111011011.4 ."";:*"...1- /. i.. %'(\, -,44, .....- ...- ./ ,.." / SOLTfl I CAROLINA f 1 \ 0....% City \ \ 1 ... ....:., % ... , Wilmington ... ''''..2,-.--t,.(;010iiiDia . GEORGIA i ,,,. ' I o, 1 1 ''r "" % i , 1. -.. Atlantic Oc&an ', tAllanta f c 1 . ..._., ' 4 ..._ _ I N., i i \ -..... '''--.---- , ..... )" L % .... .. ''" . ----T---- 2 4. tliarleslon ,-., KEY Railroads \----. N Sherman's ,11111111111 March Savannati` 0 /dittos 50 1-" Questions for Map 1 Through which states did Sherman's army march? Which major cities did 1. they capture? Now concentrate on North Carolina. Locate Wilmington and Morehead 2. City, both of which the Union had captured earlier in the war, and Goldsboro, which remained in Confederate hands. Why would Sherman consider Goldsboro his primary objective in the 3. state? AVAILABLE BEST COPY Why would the control of Wilmington and Morehead City have made the 4. Union want to take Goldsboro even more?