Mill Creek and the Battle of Bentonville

On March nineteenth, eighteen sixty-five, the Battle of Bentonville began near this creek in Johnston County, North Carolina. It was the largest Civil War battle fought on North Carolina soil and the last major Confederate attempt to stop Sherman's march through the Carolinas. The bridge here served as the only Confederate line of retreat after the battle.

Mill Creek was swollen with rain, and the one bridge over it was all that stood between Johnston's army and disaster. The fate of an army sometimes comes down to a single crossing.