Confederate High Tide, Four Oaks, NC, USA - Civil War Discovery Trail Sites on Waymarking.com

"You are standing at the Morris farm, where part of the Union XX Corps arrived late in the afternoon on March 19,1865, to stop the main Confederate assault, which had crushed Carlin’s division of the XIV Corps at the Cole plantation. In the morning the Morris farmhouse was the XIV Corps field hospital, but it was abandoned and its wounded moved to the John Harper farm a half-mile west when Carlin’s men came streaming back and Confederate bullets began hitting the structure.

“The rebels amassed…emerged from the woods just as the sun went down. They came into Mr. Morris’ open field…and marched steadily on towards Robinson and the…batteries. They were received with the heaviest musketry….their officers…truly brave, brought them on in some kind of order past a point where [the 13th New Jersey and the 82nd Illinois] could get a flank fire on them. This added to their misery; yet they stood it bravely, and came on.”
E.D. Westfall, New York Herald correspondent present with the Union XX Corps during the battle for Morris farm.

'The work of that battery was the most grand…during my three years of war…I shall always feel very grateful towards that battery for making it so hot for the rebs that I had the chance, and took our ambulance train out of the rebs’ grasp and to the rear.' - Cyrus Fox, hospital steward, XIV Corps

'The vast field was soon covered with men, horses, artillery, caissons etc., which brought back vividly to our minds a similar scene at the Battle of Chancellorsville.' - Samuel Toombs, 13th New Jersey.

'Such fiendish yells never saluted my ears before. Why, it seemed to me as though the doors of perdition had been thrown wide open, and that all the devils were out!' - Chaplin I.W. Earle, 21st Michigan.

'If there was a place in the battle of Gettysburg as hot as that spot, I never saw it.' - A North Carolina courier at the Morris farm.

Across the field in front of you Bate’s and Taliaferro’s Divisions – green garrison troops and seasoned men from the Confederate Army of Tennessee, under the command of Lt. Gen. A.P. Stewart – made four assaults with deadly consequences. At the Morris farm they were torn to pieces by crossfire from enemy muskets hidden in the woods (to your left) on their flank (the 13th New Jersey and 82nd Illinois), direct fire of twelve Union cannons of the XX Corps, and elements of Robinson’s brigade (behind you). Bate’s Division was swept away by concentrated musket fire from Robinson’s brigade directly in front of the division and a hailstorm of deadly canister rounds from nine additional field pieces, for a total of twenty-one
.

Union cannons (XX and XIV Corps artillery) at the Morris farm. Bate’s attack fell apart, and the XX Corps stopped the Confederate high tide on March 19, ending the first day’s fighting at the Morris farm"


Source: (visit link)

Type of site: Battlefield Phone Number: (910) 594-0789 Admission Charged: No Charge Website: [Web Link] Address: Not listed Driving Directions: Not listed

Visit Instructions:
Post a picture of site showing the signage or other notable feature. Please tell what you saw or learned.

Recent Visits/Logs:

Date Logged Log User Rating   08/02/2021 dream chaser visited it 05/26/2018 NCDaywalker visited it

View all visits/logs