In February 1865, the opposing forces in South Carolina skirmished almost daily, with serious fighting along the rivers in the Low Country, Columbia, and Cheraw. As Sherman marched northward through the Palmetto State, simultaneously, in North Carolina, the battles of Fort Anderson, Town Creek, Forks Road, and the fall of Wilmington occurred. However, March 1865 proved to be the Old North State's bloodiest month of the entire war, where, during a brief 14-day span, "Two Weeks of Fury," General Joseph E. Johnston's outnumbered Confederatesfought four desperate battles: Wise's Forks; Monroe's Crossroads; Averasboro, and Bentonville. The ultimate cost of these battles is found in existing North Carolina Confederate hospital records, prison registries, Confederate pension applications, and the unmarked graves found at the various battlefields.
The more than 1,300 individual names listed in Final Roll Call are not absolute, as the compilers acknowledge the shortcomings of Confederate casualty reporting during the war's final months. Those who died or were hospitalized for non-battle-related injuries during this period are not included in this work.
An invaluable source for Tar Heel soldiers, and the base information for all material contained within this work, is the multi-volume series, North Carolina Troops 1861-1865 A Roster. Final Roll Call supplements the North Carolina Troops series with new information when available. Additional resources included National Archives Record Group 109, Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers, Confederate Medical Department Hospital Records, and Prisoner of War Records. Material obtained from the National Archives was supplemented by casualty lists, such as Surgeon Isaac S. Tanner's record of wounded from Hoke's Division; Surgeon Ralph B. Hanahan's record of wounded from Hagood's Brigade; hospital listings and obituaries in wartime newspapers; The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies; Confederate pension applications filed by veterans and their wives; soldier letters, diaries, and journals; and postwar unit histories.
