Restoring Bentonville, the Civil War's Last Major Battlefield: A $100,000 Grant

The Battle of Bentonville, North Carolina, was the last major battle of the Civil War.

The battle and its end

• In March 1865, after three days of fighting, the Confederate army of General Joseph E. Johnston was forced to retreat, heading north to join other Confederate forces in southwest Virginia.
• When Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomattox Court House a month later, Johnston was on his own and judged further resistance pointless.
• On April 26, 1865, outside Durham, North Carolina, he surrendered to the Union army of Major General William Tecumseh Sherman — effectively ending the war in the eastern theater.

Saving the battlefield

By the Civil War's centennial in 1965, North Carolina had preserved 130 acres of the battlefield, but much of it remained unprotected. Through the work of state government and local nonprofit partners, more than 2,000 acres are now preserved permanently in the Bentonville Battlefield State Historic Site — many bought with help from Battlefield Land Acquisition Grants.

The grant

The department will prepare a detailed cultural landscape report to guide restoring the battlefield to how it looked in March 1865. It will analyze the battlefield's complex cultural and natural resources, and draw on local landowners, descendants of people who were enslaved, and interested tribes to shape future preservation.

About the grants

Battlefield Restoration Grants, from the National Park Service's American Battlefield Protection Program, help restore "day-of-battle" conditions at nationally significant American Revolution, War of 1812 and Civil War battlefields and related sites. They are funded by the Land and Water Conservation Fund, which reinvests revenue from offshore oil and gas leasing in conservation and recreation. The program also offers Land Acquisition, Interpretation and Preservation Planning grants, supporting community-led stewardship in tribal, state and local communities.

Sources

Based on "Restoring the Bentonville Battlefield: A Combined Effort to Preserve the Last Major Battlefield of the Civil War," part of 2024 Battlefield Restoration Grant Highlights, American Battlefield Protection Program, National Park Service; a work of the United States government in the public domain. The source spells the Confederate general "Johnson"; it was Joseph E. Johnston. Its summary calls the award a Battlefield Interpretation Grant, while its text and series call it a Battlefield Restoration Grant, as here. Its photograph, credited to the state historic site, is not reproduced.