Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, Major General Thomas H Ruger Camp #1 Dedicate Monument to Union Solders.
March 17, 2013 (UPI) -- Nearly 150 years after the end of the American Civil War, a monument was dedicated to Union soldiers in North Carolina, officials said. The Department of North Carolina, Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War presented the $10,000 monument at a ceremony Saturday at the Bentonville Battlefield State Historic Site, The Charlotte (N.C.) Observer reported.
"[Now], we honor all participants for their willingness to die for a cause they believed in," Jerry Devine, of the North Carolina Thomas H. Ruger Camp 1, Sons of Union Veterans, said at the unveiling ceremony.
The Battle of Bentonville was fought from March 19 to 21, 1865, and was the largest Civil War battle to be fought in North Carolina, which was part of the Confederate South.
"It's a confirmation that when it comes to recognizing service members, whether they were Confederate soldiers or Union soldiers, what's important for people is that they were American," said Doug Elwell of Fayetteville, the chairman of the monument committee.
The Battle of Bentonville, March 19-25, 1865, was the climatic finale to the Carolina Campaign of the late Civil War. It was the last large battle in which a Confederate force mounted a tactical offensive against Sherman’s army, and the largest battle fought in North Carolina. 60,000 Union men fought against 20,000 Confederates. General Joseph Johnston surrendered to Sherman at Bennett Place near Durham on April 26, 1865
Efforts to place a monument to the Union troops of the Battle of Bentonville began in 1993, a century after the Goldsboro Rifles History Club built a monument to honor the 360 Confederate soldiers buried in in a mass grave in the former battlefield. The battlefield is now a North Carolina state historic site.
The monument was first proposed in 1993, but efforts to build it were stymied by then-Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources, who opposed the monument. Opposition was based on the continued resistance to the memory of General William Sherman of the Union Army, who left a swath of destruction across the South during the Civil War.The monument was re-proposed in 2012 by the Monument Committee from the Department of North Carolina, Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, and approved by the North Carolina Historical Commission in 2013.
Bentonville Battlefield is still used for Civil War reenactments that often take place close the anniversary of the battle. It is also open to the public, who can visit the visitor’s center or any of the monuments at the site.
With Acknowledgements To:
The Charlotte Observer
North Carolina Historical Sites, Bentonville Battlefield
With Acknowledgements To:
The Charlotte Observer
North Carolina Historical Sites, Bentonville Battlefield
