Old Laurel Hill Presbyterian Church Civil War Trial Marker
Posted by: 
NCDaywalker
N 34° 49.912 W 079° 27.930
17S E 640317 N 3855471
This is the site of Union Army encampment while resting and procuring supplies from the locals before moving on to Fayetteville and Goldsboro.
Waymark Code: WM6QWN
Location: North Carolina, United States
Date Posted: 07/10/2009
Views: 11
"After making his famous "March to the Sea" to Savannah, Ga., in late 1864, Union Gen. William T. Sherman cast his eyes northward toward the Carolinas and a possible link-up with Gen. U.S. Grant, who then was tightening his noose around Gen. Robert E. Lee at Petersburg, Va.
Sherman's army of 60,000 entered South Carolina in February 1865 and moved quickly north, burning the capital at Columbia and destroying and looting countless civilian farms and plantations.
Entering North Carolina the first week in March, Sherman marched toward Goldsboro, an important railroad junction sitting on what had been "Lee's Lifeline." Union forces quickly captured Fayetteville and burned the arsenal there. Confederate resistance at Averasboro was swept aside.
Confederate commander Gen. Joseph Johnston managed to assemble a force large enough to put up a fight at Bentonville March 19–21, but the weight of Sherman's advance eventually overwhelmed him.
Johnston withdrew, his army ending up west of Raleigh. After more than a week of negotiation near Durham, Johnston surrendered his troops April 26, 1865.
Trails sign located at the intersection of Old Wire Road (Route 144) and MacFarland Road, 5 miles north of Laurel Hill – Sherman and part of his army camped here the evening of March 8, issuing orders to deal "moderately and fairly" with the citizens of North Carolina. The church, still standing, maintains examples of soldier graffiti from the episode."
From web site: (
visit link)
In a conversation with the church's historian, I am told the General Sherman actually spent the night in the church before moving on to burn the arsenal at Fayetteville, NC.