Old Bluff Church

<i>(Preface):</i><br> The Carolinas Campaign began on February 1, 1865, when Union Gen. William T. Sherman led his army north from Savanna, Georgia, after the "March to the Sea." Sherman's objective was to join Gen. Ulysses S. Grant in Virginia to crush Gen. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. Scattered Confederate forces consolidated in North Carolina, the Confederacy logistical lifeline, where Sherman defeated Gen. Joseph E. Johnston's last-ditch attack at Bentonville. After Sherman was reinforced at Glodsboro late in March, Johnstone saw the futility of further resistance and surrendered on April 26, essentially ending the Civil War. <center>* * *</center> As Gen. William T. Sherman marched north from Fayetteville, Gen. Joseph E. Johnston positioned his army near Smithfield, uncertain whether Sherman's destination was Raleigh or Goldsboro. On March 15, 1865, the head of Sherman's Left Wing struck Confederate Gen. William J. Hardee's skirmishers guarding the road just south of Averasboro. Hardee struck back, and the fight began. After several bloody attacks and counterattacks, Hardee withdrew during the night of March 16, and Sherman turned toward Goldsboro.<br><br>This is the entrance to the Old Bluff Church churchyard and cemetery. You are facing north, in the direction in which the lead element of Union Gen. William T. Sherman's Left Wing advanced on March 14, 1865. For the next two days, the wing's 30,000 officers and men, with their supplies and equipment, passed by here in the face of sporadic and increasing Confederate resistance. That resistance culminated in the Battle of Averasboro on March 15-16 and the Battle of Bentonville on March 19-21.<br><br> Early on March 15, half a mile north along the Fayetteville-Raleigh Stage Road, Confederate cavalrymen skirmished with the Union vanguard at Silver Run Creek and Mill Pond. Later, Sherman established temporary headquarters there. The rainy weather that week made the roadway nearly impassible and the soldiers miserable.<br><br> Despite the terrible weather, at nightfall on March 15, Union Col. William Hawley's brigade prepared for a hot meal and a night's rest here at Bluff Church after working all day corduroying the road. At 7:30 p.m., however, the brigade was called forward to assist the Union cavalry, which was halted and engaged, as the Battle of Averasboro began. One of the soldiers described the seven-mil trek to the battle site: <i>"Men had their shoes sucked off by the mud, while others stumbled, lost their guns, and were thankful that they were not trampled under by the moving column and buried alive."</i><br><br><i>(Sidebar 1):</i><br>Scottish immigrants formed the first congregation here in 1758. A century later, this church building was constructed, and it remained in use until 1908. The present-day Bluff Presbyterian Church congregation, located in nearby Wade, maintains the old church. <br><br><i>(Sidebar 2):</i><br>Jane "Janie" Smith (1846-1882) is buried in the family plot here in the church cemetery. The daughter of Farquhard Smith of Lebanon Plantation, which served as a hospital during the Battle of Averasboro, the teenaged girl wrote a detailed and graphic description of the battle and her family's involvement.