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, seeking to join Gen. Ulysses S. Grant in Virginia and crush Gen. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. As scattered Confederate forces consolidated in North Carolina, the Confederacy's logistical lifeline, Sherman defeated Gen. Joseph E. Johnston's last-ditch attack at Bentonville. Hoping to deflect Sherman from Goldsboro, Johnston attacked Sherman's Left Wing here on March 19, 1865, after finding it separated from the Right Wing several miles southeast. Near Old Goldsboro Road, the North Carolina Junior Reserve held position while elements of Confederate Gen. Robert F. Hoke's division engaged Union Gen. James D. Morgan's division, and the Army of Tennessee made its last grand charge against Union positions on the Cole Plantation north of the road. On March 20, Sherman arrived from the east with the Union Right Wing in support, and the Confederates changed position to meet the new threat. The Junior Reserves fell back and formed a new line parallel to Old Goldsboro Road on Sam Howell Branch, while the rest of Hoke's division occupied ground to their left and skirmished with the 14th Michigan and 16th Illinois Infantry. As the Confederate lines shifted, fighting near the Green Flowers House crossroads one-half mile east nearly resulted in the capture of Union generals Oliver O. Howard, John A. Logan, and Charles R. Woods, but the arrival of the 100th Indiana Infantry prevented it. Johnston's outnumbered forces withdrew to Smithfield on March 21, and Sherman's army marched to Goldsboro. During the next two days, the Confederates dug in and held firm against constant pressure from Union forces. 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.