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Local figure

William T. Sherman

William T. Sherman, the Union general whose army entered North Carolina in March 1865, met Confederate general Joseph E. Johnston three times that April at James and Nancy Bennitt's farm on the Hillsborough Road, then in Orange County. Their final agreement of April 26 was a military surrender covering 89,270 soldiers in the Carolinas, Georgia and Florida.

Source: NC Historic Sites: Bennett Place, History

Also found in catalogs as William T. (William Tecumseh) Sherman.

1820–1891 · Dates from the Library of Congress · Library of Congress authority record ↗

2 works about William T. Sherman are indexed here.

Search these 2 works Research sources View indexed works ↓

Life and Orange County connections

Dated events connected with this person, in date order. See these 6 dated events in the chronology →

  1. Sherman's orders protect the university and village of Chapel Hill When a Federal officer rode into Chapel Hill at sunset on April 16, President Swain told him of General Sherman's promise to protect the university and village, and the officer said he had received the orders. When Smith D. Atkins's cavalry took the town the next morning, Sherman's orders were obeyed and dwellings and university property were guarded. People: David L. Swain, Smith D. Atkins Place: Chapel HillSearch the index · Documenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. I (1907), p. 743
  2. Sherman and Johnston first meet at the Bennitt farm on the Hillsborough Road William T. Sherman and Joseph E. Johnston met midway between their lines on the Hillsborough Road, seven miles from Durham Station, and moved to James Bennitt's nearby farmhouse. Before talks began Sherman showed Johnston a telegram announcing President Lincoln's assassination; Sherman offered military terms only, and Johnston asked for terms of a permanent peace. People: Joseph E. Johnston, James Bennitt Place: Bennett Place (Bennitt farm, then in Orange County)Search the index · NC Historic Sites: Bennett Place, History
  3. Johnston accepts Sherman's basis of agreement at the Bennitt farm At their second meeting at James and Nancy Bennitt's farm on the Hillsborough Road, then in Orange County, Joseph E. Johnston accepted the "basis of agreement" William T. Sherman submitted, which offered an armistice, disbanding of the armies, recognition of state governments and a general amnesty. Jefferson Davis approved the terms, but Washington rejected them. People: Joseph E. Johnston, William T. Sherman, James Bennitt Place: Bennitt farm (Bennett Place), then Orange County · Also named: Jefferson Davis, Nancy BennittSearch the index · NC Historic Sites: Bennett Place, History
  4. Swain asks Sherman to stop the stripping of farms around Chapel Hill President Swain wrote General Sherman that Wheeler's men and then the Federals had stripped the country of forage and horses, leaving families such as the Rev. George W. Purefoy's fifty people with no food and no work animals. Sherman replied on April 22 that seizures would stop when the war ended. People: David L. Swain, William T. Sherman Place: Chapel Hill · Also named: George W. PurefoyDocumenting the American South: Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, vol. I (1907), p. 743
  5. Johnston surrendered to Sherman at the Bennett farm, then in Orange County After meetings on April 17 and 18 whose terms Washington rejected, Joseph E. Johnston and William T. Sherman met again at the farm of James and Nancy Bennitt and signed a military surrender covering forces in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida. North Carolina Historic Sites describes the Bennitt farm as a 325 acre place in Orange County, on the Hillsborough road west of Durham Station. People: Joseph E. Johnston, William T. Sherman, James Bennitt Place: Bennett farm, Orange County (now Durham County) · Also named: Nancy BennittNorth Carolina Historic Sites: Bennett Place, History
  6. Confederate leaders gather at Hillsborough Wade Hampton and Joseph E. Johnston used the Dickson farm on the edge of Hillsborough as a temporary headquarters while Johnston negotiated with Sherman, and Confederate officials including Secretary of War John C. Breckinridge came there to work on terms. Johnston and his staff rode from the Dickson place along the old Hillsborough to Durham road to complete the surrender. People: Joseph E. Johnston, Wade Hampton, William T. Sherman, Alexander Dickson Place: Hillsborough · Also named: John C. BreckinridgeAlliance for Historic Hillsborough: The Alexander Dickson House

People named in the same events

People named in the same dated entries as William T. Sherman, those sharing the most entries first. Each line links one of the shared entries in the chronology, where its source is cited. A shared entry shows these people in the same event, not how well they knew each other.

Indexed works

Works about or by William T. Sherman. Each links to the institution that holds or provides it. Background reading appears below.

Civil War Collection

Military Collection, State Archives of North Carolina · 1860

Statewide Civil War collection of the State Archives of North Carolina, dated 1860 to 1965. It gathers pardon petitions, bounty payrolls, quartermaster vouchers and supply papers, disabled veterans' claims and letters about artificial limbs, regimental and unit papers, muster rolls, diaries, reminiscences, clippings and sheet music. Orange County is one of the many North Carolina counties represented.

Included because: Catalog heading in the State Archives of NC record: Sherman, William T. (William Tecumseh), 1820-1891.

State Archives of NC

Papers,

Bennitt, James · 1820

Papers of James Bennitt, a Durham County farmer and artisan whose home was where Joseph E. Johnston surrendered to William T. Sherman in April 1865. The 159 items, starting in 1820, include letters, a diary, accounts, bills and receipts on local affairs and on the later history and restoration of the house, plus a Hillsborough militia regiment's muster roll. At Duke's Rubenstein Library.

Included because: Catalog heading in the Duke record: Sherman, William T. -- 1820-1891.

Duke

Start at OCPL

Books in OCPL’s Rebecca B. Wall Local History Collection whose titles, catalog subjects, or descriptions match this person. The Friends’ recommended starting points are labelled.

  • Rebecca Wall Collection · NC 973.73 BAR Sherman's March Through the Carolinas Barrett, John Gilchrist · 1956

    General William T. Sherman's three-month march through South and North Carolina in 1865 and its effect on the people in its path, in an account by John G. Barrett. Published by the University of North Carolina Press in 1956; 325 pages with maps on the endpapers and a bibliography of nearly thirty pages. Barrett taught history at the Virginia Military Institute.

Places in this person’s story

Buildings, schools, churches and other sites named in the dated events on this page, the most often named first. The map shows them all.

Map tiles © OpenStreetMap contributors. Site locations from the N.C. State Historic Preservation Office survey, Open Orange, Orange County GIS, OpenStreetMap and a few other published sources named on each site’s page; town and community pins show approximate locations.

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Research sources

Sources and research tools for this person. For ready-made searches of other catalogs, see Search further. Research guide: Trace a family through historical records.

Background

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Records of the time

Collections and databases

  • NC LIVE: prepared search for William T. Sherman Library card Search NC LIVE for this subject and Orange County. You can change the search terms. Sign in through your North Carolina library to access the materials.
  • Ancestry Library Edition In the libraryOrange County Public Library Census, birth, death and marriage records, and more, free on the public computers at OCPL libraries

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Books about William T. Sherman

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Historical records and collections

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