The sounds of artillery and musket fire will again ring out at Bentonville Battlefield at the annual summer living history program on Aug. 25.
Costumed living historians will demonstrate how soldiers made meals, maintained their weapons, equipment and uniforms, trained for battle, withstood the weather, and much more. This free program will feature musket demonstrations at 10:30 a.m., 12:30 p.m. and 2:30 p.m., and artillery firings at 11:30 a.m., 1:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m.
Visitors can visit a Civil War soldier’s camp and discover what role the enlisted man played in battle. Re-enactors from the 27th North Carolina Troops will be on site to explain and answer questions about military life during the war. The living historians will also give uniform and equipment talks.
Artillery demonstrations will feature a three-inch ordnance rifle, a typical Civil War field piece. According to one witness, the artillery fire at the Battle of Bentonville was so heavy that it “literally barked the trees, cutting off limbs as if by hand.”
The Battle of Bentonville, fought March 19-21, 1865, involved 80,000 troops and was the last Confederate offensive against Union Gen. William T. Sherman. Bentonville Battlefield is located at 5466 Harper House Road in Four Oaks, three miles north of Newton Grove on S.R. 1008.
For more information, visit Bentonville online or call 910-594-0789. Bentonville Battlefield State Historic Site is part of the Division of State Historic Sites within the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources.
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