Bennett Place

Bennett Place is the location of the largest land surrender during the American Civil war. This site provides insight into the social, political, and economic causes of the war and the reasons that individuals chose to fight. Specifically, it provides insight into the Bennetts', who were yeoman farmers who had two sons and a son-in-law die for the Confederacy. This location includes the reconstructed historical buildings and a museum at the vistor center.

Bennett Place was the site of the largest land troop surrender made during the Civil War. At this location, General Johnston of the Confederate army surrendered to General Sherman of the Union army. The homestead of the Bennett family acted as neutral ground where the terms of surrender were negotiated and agreed upon. The Bennett’s were yeoman farmers who had lost two sons and a son-in-law to the war. The family agreed to the use of their home and stayed in the kitchen as the two generals negotiated. The troops of both sides remained outside, in the field and pasture areas. This site includes the Bennetts' restored home and kitchen and some of their surrounding land. There is also a visitors center that contains a small museum which includes summary of the Civil War and personal details from the Bennetts' lives. This site is open Tuesday through Saturday from 9am to 5pm and offers guided tours, audio tours, and a small video about the site. The tour guides are invaluable sources of information about both the site and the surrounding area. This site also has special events, such as reenactments that can offer a different perspective on the site and a deeper understanding into the Civil War. Learning about the Bennett family offers insight into the different reasons that people fought in the Civil War and neatly provides a launching point for exploring the North Carolina curriculum standard AH.H.1.1, which sets the goal of students being able to explain the causes and effect of various domestic conflicts in terms of race, gender, political, economic, and social factors. 

The museum at Bennett place provides both an overview of the Civil War and a personal insight into Bennetts' lives during the conflict. The causes and effects of the Civil War can also be examined in this manner. On the national level, there were multiple political and social factors that led to the war. One of the key factors was the impact of slavery on the growing division within politics. There were concerns in the South that there were political threats to the Southern way of life, especially from the increasingly influential Republican party that pushed for abolition. The abolition of slavery would have meant a large economic loss in the South. There were also concerns about the induction of new states into the United States, because if they entered as free states, they would add to the voting power of the North in Congress, while the reverse would have been true if they were slave states. The creation of the Electoral college and the decision to award all of a states electoral votes to the majority candidate caused intense partisan contests that further destabilized the political system. There was also a growing sense of superiority in the North, where the population often compared itself favorably to the South and began to form a distinct identity. In response the South drew closer together socially and politically, perceiving a threat in the Northern attitudes. All of these factors worked together to create a building pressure that was set alight by the election of Abraham Lincoln of the Republican party. The museum panels at Bennett Place give visitors an overview of these political, economic, and social factors that led to the Civil War.

On a more personal level, the reasons that individuals went to war on the side of the Union or the Confederacy or swore loyalty to either side, especially in the South, were complex and dependent on a multitude of factors. The economic status of a person did not necessarily determine where their loyalty would lie. At this site, visitors learn that the Bennetts were yeoman farmers who did not own any slaves, yet their sons went to fight for the Confederacy, seeing it as a territorial war and a matter of loyalty. However, in other parts of the Confederacy, there were slaveholders that maintained loyalty to the Union, seeing the succession as a breach of honor. Family, honor, and duty are some of the main social factors impacting individuals’ choices. Race also impacted the decision to fight. Many enslaved people escaped during the war and joined the Union war effort.  

At the beginning of the war, ideas of honor and the romanticism of war along with the idea that it would be a short conflict, drove many to enlist on both sides.  However as the war dragged on, new factors began to impact individuals’ loyalty and decision to fight. Women began sending letters from home in the South, calling for husbands and sons to come home to help because of loss of safety and food shortages. This food shortage issue is brought up in one of the panels of the Bennett place museum. Another factor is the beginning of the conscription draft in the South in 1862. The first draft was for men from 18 to 35, but in 1864 that range had expanded to 17 to 50.  Desertion and draft avoidance became common in the South, causing the Confederate forces to divide their focus between trying to capture those who were supposed to be in the army and actually fighting the Union.

Bennett Place is an important historical site because it was the largest land surrender during the Civil War. It is also an excellent place to get a quick look into the lives of ordinary people in the South during the Civil War and discover some of the factors behind loyalty and causes of the war. This site provides a good overview of the war and contextualizes the issues in terms of the individuals who were impacted by it. Students can see what life was like, understand how the war was shaped by people’s values, and learn what role the Bennett’s played in making history.

 Ballantyne, David T. “‘Whenever the Yankees Were Gone, I Was a Confederate’: Loyalty and Dissent in Civil War–Era Rapides Parish, Louisiana.” Civil War History 63, no. 1 (2017): 36–67. https://doi.org/10.1353/cwh.2017.0002.

Doyle, Patrick J. “Understanding the Desertion of South Carolinian Soldiers during the Final Years of the Confederacy.” The Historical Journal 56, no. 3 (2013): 657–79. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0018246x13000046.

Henderson, Simon. “Slavery and the Causes of the American Civil War.” Essay. In Aspects of American History. London: Routledge, 2009. https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/ncsu/reader.action?docID=409517&ppg=65.

Storey, Margaret M. “Civil War Unionists and the Political Culture of Loyalty in Alabama, 1860-1861.” Journal of Southern History 69, no. 1 (2003): 71. https://doi.org/10.2307/30039841.

Wert, Jeffry D. 2006. "CONFEDERATE CONSCRIPTION WOES." Civil War Times, 10, 9-10. https://proxying.lib.ncsu.edu/index.php/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/magazines/confederate-conscription-woes/docview/199088525/se-2?accountid=12725.