After Columbia, Charleston, and South Carolina renounced their allegiance to the Union in early 1865, Jefferson Davis belatedly handed over command and control of the army to General Lee. This did not prevent Union armies from pushing into North Carolina, capturing Fayetteville, Bentonville, Goldsboro, and Raleigh by mid-April. Exhausted by the Union sieges of Petersburg and Richmond, Lee's forces fought a final battle, capturing Fort Stedman on March 25.