The Carolinas Campaign began on February 1, 1865, when Union Gen. William T. Sherman led his army north from Savannah, Georgia, after the “March to the Sea,” aiming 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’s logistical lifeline. As Sherman marched north from Fayetteville, Gen. Joseph E. Johnston positioned his army near Smithville, 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, and Hardee struck back. After several bloody attacks and counterattacks, Hardee withdrew during the night of March 16, and Sherman turned toward Goldsboro. On March 17, Sherman’s Left Wing, the U.S. Army’s XIV and XX Corps, marched past this point. The Confederate stand at Averasboro had delayed the Union march to Goldsboro, increasing the distance between the Left Wing and the Right Wing several miles to the east and south, while Confederate cavalry harassed the Federals on the road. At Smithfield, Johnston studied area maps and concluded that Sherman’s two wings were far enough apart that if one was attacked it might be defeated before the other could come to its aid. On March 18, Gen. Wade Hampton notified Johnston that the Left Wing was approaching Bentonville, where Confederate cavalry had taken up positions. That night Johnston marched most of his army to Hampton’s side, and by the next morning was ready to spring the trap. After Sherman was reinforced at Goldsboro late in March, Johnston saw the futility of further resistance and surrendered on April 26, essentially ending the Civil War.