Friday, February 12, 2016

Diary of 5th Sergeant Alexander G. Downing: Thursday, March 23, 1865

An order from General Sherman was read this morning, stating that the campaign was over,1 and that we should now prepare to take a short rest. We left the rifle pits at 7 o'clock, marched fifteen miles, and bivouacked within five miles of Goldsboro. Our army is concentrating there, and we are to get supplies, rest up, and prepare for another campaign.
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1 This battle proved to be our last, and it is known as the battle of Bentonville. We took part later in the surrender of Johnston's army at Raleigh, N. C. but there was no battle then, or before the surrender, only a little skirmishing. — A. G. D.

Source: Alexander G. Downing, Edited by Olynthus B., Clark, Downing’s Civil War Diary, p. 263-4

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