On Saturday, March 11, 1865 Federal troops under William Tecumseh Sherman occupied Fayetteville, North Carolina, an important community in the southern part of the state. While undertaking the usual destruction of machinery, buildings, and enemy properties, Sherman learned that Joseph Johnston would soon confront him so he send messengers to consult with Union General John Scofield at Wilmington to arrange cooperation with Union forces marching from the Atlantic seacoast for a two-pronged attack against Johnston’s Confederates. Sherman would feint toward Raleigh to confuse Johnston, but in truth Sherman planned a coordinated move by himself and Scofield’s forces against Goldsborough, the original target of his northward thrust through the Carolinas. During his Carolina campaign, Sherman never deviated from his plan to slowly but inevitably invade the interior of the Confederacy.
00000174-b11b-ddc3-a1fc-bfdbb1a20000The Schreiner University Department of History is honoring the sesquicentennial of the American Civil War with a series of short vignettes focusing on events from 1861 through 1865. The Civil War was the most destructive conflict in American history, but it was also one of our most defining moments as a people and as a nation. Let us know what you think about "This Week in the Civil War." E-mail your comments to Dr. John Huddleston at jhuddles@schreiner.edu.Airs: Weekdays at 5:19 a.m., 8:19 a.m., 4:19 p.m. on KTXI and 4:49 a.m., 9:29 p.m. on KSTX.