Welcome to Arkansas in the Civil War! This site explores the battlefields, historic sites and events of the Civil War in Arkansas, while also exploring other heritage and eco-tourism destinations in the Natural State!
November 23, 1862: Reconnaissance toward Van Buren
Site of Confederate Camps
Dripping Springs, Arkansas
As the Confederate army of General Thomas Hindman continued its preparations for an advance into Northwest Arkansas, Federal forces made an unexpected probe of their advanced cavalry camps 149 years ago today.
Please click here to read the post of November 17th, detailing the activity underway in Van Buren).
Sent south across the Boston Mountains by Union General James G. Blunt, a force of 600 cavalrymen approached the camps of Confederate General John S. Marmaduke's cavalry command at Dripping Springs in Crawford County. Dripping Springs is about 9 miles north of the Crawford County Courthouse in downtown Van Buren. Using the twisting roads of the day, the distance was a little longer.
Cove Creek Road, used by Union Cavalry
The Federals approached the Confederate outer camps to scout the activities underway at Van Buren in an effort to learn the size and intent of the Confederate army. There was some minor skirmishing near Dripping Springs. The approach of the Union cavalry was unexpected and the Southern horsemen fell back before them, unsure if the approach of Lt. Col. L.R. Jewell and his men marked the front of a full scale movement by the Federal army in Northwest Arkansas. It did not.
When it became apparent that the Federals were not supported by infantry, Confederate resistance stiffened. Jewell now hesitated and, realizing the Confederates were present in Van Buren in force, began a withdrawal back into the mountains.
Pasture and Mountains at Dripping Springs
He and his horsemen returned back across the Boston Mountains during the afternoon and evening and reached Blunt's camps that night. Neither side reported any casualties.
The value of the reconnaissance is unclear. Jewell did not learn much about what was going on in Van Buren and even after his probe, Blunt still estimated the strength of Hindman's Confederate army at anywhere from 11,000 to 30,000 men.
The raid did lead, however, to the first fighting of the Prairie Grove campaign when Hindman ordered Marmaduke's cavalry to move north on the heels of the Union horsemen and take a position at Cane Hill in Washington County.
I will continue following the events of the Prairie Grove Campaign over the holiday weekend, so be sure to check back in occasionally.
Have a Happy and Blessed Thanksgiving!
To learn more about the Battle of Prairie Grove, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/ArkansasPG1.
Posted by Dale at 6:24 PM 0 comments
Labels: 1862, blunt, dripping springs, marmaduke, prairie grove campaign, reconnaissance, van buren
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Van Buren, Arkansas - Before the Battle of Prairie Grove
Crawford County Courthouse in Van Buren
In November of 1862, Confederate General Thomas Hindman began to prepare for a move from the Arkansas River Valley across the Boston Mountains into the Ozarks Plateau of Northwest Arkansas. He hoped to return a large area of Arkansas to Confederate control, while also opening the door for further operations into Missouri.
The launching point for this planned campaign was Van Buren, a charming town on the Arkansas River. The location of important steamboat landings and a ferry that crossed over to Fort Smith, Van Buren had supported the Southern cause since the earliest days of secession.
Militia troops from the city had joined in the taking of Fort Smith from U.S. forces in 1861 and it had served as a base of operations for troops moving north across the mountains before both the Battle of Wilson's Creek and the Battle of Pea Ridge. Wounded Confederate soldiers were brought back to Van Buren after both battles and the graves of those that did not survive can be seen today in rows at Fairview Cemetery.
Van Buren from above.
In November of 1862, Van Buren took on a critical role as Hindman planned his move into Northwest Arkansas. A large force of cavalry was positioned just north of town under General John S. Marmaduke. His command included Captain William Clark Quantrill's Missouri guerrillas. Jesse James, then only 14, was not yet part of the command, but other men with names that still echo through history were there. Among them were Frank James and Cole Younger.
Downtown Van Buren, Arkansas
With Markaduke's command in place to block in Federal movement or probe on Van Buren, Hindman began stockpiling provisions, ammunition and other supplies in the city. These would be used by his army as it crossed over the mountains. Troops also began the slow process of moving across the Arkansas River from their camps on Massard Prairie. They knew that combat was coming, but did not yet know that they would remember the name "Prairie Grove" for the rest of their lives.
I will continue posting on the Prairie Grove Campaign over coming weeks. Until the next post, you can read more about historic Van Buren at www.exploresouthernhistory.com/vanburen.
Read more about the Battle of Prairie Grove at www.exploresouthernhistory.com/ArkansasPG1.
Posted by Dale at 1:50 PM 0 comments
Labels: battle of prairie grove, cole younger, frank james, jesse james, john s. markaduke, prairie grove, thomas hindman, van buren, william clark quantrill
Monday, October 31, 2011
Halloween 2011: American's Most Haunted Hotel?
Crescent Hotel in Eureka Springs
The historic Crescent Hotel in Eureka Springs is one of the most cherished structures in Arkansas. It also may be the most haunted.
Built in 1886, just 21 years after the guns of the Civil War finally fell silent in the Ozarks, the Crescent was one of the grandest hotels in America. Visitors came to Eureka Spring by rail to "take the waters" of the community's numerous mineral springs in the hopes that the clear mountain waters held a medicinal secret that would cure their various ailments. The Crescent Hotel was built to provide the wealthiest of these guests with accommodations up to the standards of the most discriminating Americans of the day.
The Civil War had left tens of thousands of Americans sick with lingering illnesses and/or disabled by a variety of horrible battlefield wounds. Human suffering among the soldiers and their families lingered for many years after the end of the conflict. Many of these individuals sought out places like Eureka Springs, hoping that the mineral waters could ease their pain and suffering.
The popularity of mineral baths faded as the Civil War generation passed into history and by the 1930s, the Crescent had fallen on hard times. It was revived, however, as the "Castle in the Sky" of "Dr." Norman Baker, a radio pitchman who claimed to have discovered a way to cure cancer.
Desperate women came from all over the country to try the fake doctor's cancer cure. Many of them died at the Crescent.
Baker eventually went to prison for mail fraud, but legend holds that his victims still roam the rooms and halls of the beautifull restored old hotel! In fact, it is said to be the most haunted hotel in America.
To read the full story, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/crescenthotel.
Posted by Dale at 12:18 PM 0 comments
Labels: crescent hotel, eureka springs, ghost, haunted hotel
Friday, October 7, 2011
Haunted Battlefield Tour planned for Prairie Grove Battlefield
Historic Borden House at Prairie Grove Battlefield
I received the following from the outstanding staff at Prairie Grove Battlefield State Park announcing plans for this years Haunted Battlefield Tour. This is an extremely popular event, so be sure to check it out!
Prairie Grove Battlefield announces plans for Haunted Battlefield Tour
Prairie Grove Battlefield State Park would like to invite everyone to the Haunted Battlefield Tour on Saturday October 22nd, starting at 7 p.m. meeting at the park Amphitheatre. The Haunted Battlefield Tour is in reminiscence of what happened at Battle of Prairie Grove. The Union Army of the Frontier and the Confederate Army of the Trans-Mississippi fought one of the most intense and bloody battles west of the Mississippi River on December 7, 1862. The tour begins with a half-mile walk from the Amphitheatre to the front of the historic Borden House along part of the park's walking trail and into the valley where the heaviest fighting occurred during the Battle of Prairie Grove. Chances are good that there will be a few surprises along the way. Guides will then escort visitors in groups of 30 along the park's walking trail for a 30-minute eerie tour of the grounds. Tour groups will hear from guides and walk by the areas of the gruesome battle during the Civil War. When the walk is finished you may continue on a hayride or walk back up the hillside on your own.
Battlefield Trail at Prairie Grove
Parking will be available at the east entrance of Battlefield Park at the Borden House parking lot. Tours depart every 20 to 30 minutes. The last tour will conclude around 10:00 p.m. Admission: $2 Adults, $1 Child (3-12). Tickets are required for tour departures. Tickets are available on arrival at the park Amphitheatre in front of the camp fire the night of this event. All events are subject to changes because of weather.
We welcome and encourage everyone who has not had a chance to see the remodeled Hindman Hall Museum & Visitor Center with interactive exhibits and park videos. The VIC is open daily from 8:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. For more information or in case of bad weather contact the park: Prairie Grove Battlefield State Park, 506 E. Douglas Street, Prairie Grove, AR 72753; or call (479) 846-2990; e-mail prairiegrove@arkansas.com.
You can learn more about Prairie Grove Battlefield and related sites by visiting www.exploresouthernhistory.com/ArkansasPG1.
Posted by Dale at 9:41 PM 0 comments
Labels: battle of prairie grove, haunted battlefield, prairie grove, prairie grove battlefield
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Memories of a Fort Smith War Widow
Commissary Storehouse at Fort Smith
One of the saddest stories I have encountered in my research into the Civil War in Arkansas is that of Catherine C. Cox, who lived on the outskirts of Fort Smith.
She and the men of her family were Unionist in their sympathies and her husband, Christopher Cox, had died of natural causes shortly after the beginning of the war. His death, sadly, was just the beginning of tragedy in her life, as she explained in a later petition to the U.S. Government:
...My husband left three children, two sons and a daughter. The oldest son, Albert Cox, enlisted in the United States service in Genl. Steele's Arkansas Regiment and died have neither wife nor children. I think his regiment was the 1st Arkansas. - under command of a man named Stele. His second son was named Henry was taken away aged 15 years by the rebels and it is said he died of small pox. His daughter Mary Jane is about 22 years old, married as I understand since I left Arkansas. I forget the name of her husband. - Deposition of Catherine C. Cox, November 6, 1872.
Commissary Storehouse at Fort Smith
The degree to which the Union families around Fort Smith suffered because of their attachment to the Union is one of the seldom told stories of the CivilWar in Arkansas. Not only did they risk the loss of their men and boys in the service of the Union army, but many also saw their sons and husbands - like young Henry Cox - conscripted into the Confederate army by roaming cavalry companies.
In addition, they faced raids on their farms by Southern troops and guerrilla bands, but their greatest losses often came from the Union army itself. The large numbers of soldiers stationed in Fort Smith required supplies, the only source for which was the collection of farms spread out in the vallies and prairies around the post. Mrs. Cox later described how men from the Union army came and took away all that she had:
Farm Scene near Fort Smith
...While thus living and cultivating my farm, several soliders I do not know how many but some fifteen or twenty said to be a foraging party from Fort Smith came and took my corn and oats and wheat and a portion of my hogs, and in about one week or ten days afterward these men or others said to be a foraging party came and took my...cattle, the balance of my hogs, my horses, chickens...four stand of bees and honey. I was at the time at the house, and very much alarmed that these soldiers were taking all that I had.... I never saw any of it afterwards. - Deposition of Catherine C. Cox, November 6, 1872.
Such foraging raids in the area around Fort Smith were so common during the war that they were barely mentioned in even the most detailed military accounts. To the people they impacted, however, these efforts to keep the military storehouses full, left them with no food. Many suffered greatly, having been left to either starve, scrounge the woods for what they could find, or depend on the charity of neighbors, few of whom were much better off.
To learn more about Fort Smith, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/ARFortSmith1.
Posted by Dale at 1:15 PM 3 comments
Labels: catherine c. cox, civil war, cox, fort smith, union
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Pig Trail Scenic Byway - Ozark National Forest, Arkansas
Pig Trail Scenic Byway
With college football back in play, weekend traffic is once again heavy on the Natural State's famed Pig Trail Scenic Byway.
The beautiful two-lane highway cuts through the Ozarks, providing a short cut from Interstate 40 at Ozark to Fayetteville, home of the state's beloved University of Arkansas Razorbacks (affectionally known as the Hogs or Pigs). Because of the large number of fans decked out in Razorback Red and the University of Arkansas banners, flags and decals that adorn the lines of cars that pass up and down the highway on football weekends, it has been affectionately (and officially) dubbed the Pig Trail.
Pig Trail Falls
Part of State Highway 22, the Pig Trail actually has a long and colorful history. It originated as an Indian trail that wound its way down out of the mountains to the present site of Ozark on the Arkansas River. Early French trappers and fur traders likely gave the region its Ozarks name (corrupted from the French expression Aux Arcs, which is thought to have referred to the great bend of the river at Ozark). They likely followed this same route up into the mountains as long ago as the 1600s.
It later became an important trail and then road for early settlers of the region and during the Civil War was used by both Union and Confederate troops.
Now part of the Ozark National Forest, the Pig Trail is one of the most beautiful fall drives in the state and is known for its stunning scenery, waterfalls and as an access route to the famed Mulberry River.
To learn more, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/pigtrail.
Posted by Dale at 1:31 PM 0 comments
Labels: highway 22, ozark national forest, ozarks, pig trail, razorbacks, scenic byway
Saturday, July 23, 2011
Mystery Soldiers of Massard Prairie - Fort Smith, Arkansas
Massard Prairie Battlefield Park
One of the more intriguing mysteries of the Battle of Massard Prairie, which took place at Fort Smith on July 27, 1864, originates from the reports of Confederate soldiers that the overran parties of "Arkansas Feds" as they moved in to attack a battalion from the 6th Kansas Cavalry.
The terms "Arkansas Feds" and "Mountain Feds" were often used by Southern soldiers to describe Arkansans who either evaded service in the Confederate army or deserted from their units and joined the Union side.
According to several eyewitness accounts of the battle, the "Arkansas Feds" were taken by surprise and broke and ran. The Confederates did not immediately pursue them as the Kansas cavalrymen had formed a line of battle through their camp at the Picnic or Diamond Grove (site of today's Massard Prairie Battlefield Park). Union reports, however, make no mention at all of any Arkansas Union troops being present at the battle. All of which begs the questions: Were there "Arkansas Feds" on Massard Prairie? And, if so, who were they?
The answer seems to be yes, there were several companies of Arkansas Federals camped on Massard Prairie at the time of the attack.
On July 5, 1864, about three weeks before the battle, 100 Arkansas Unionists signed a letter to the editor of the Fort Smith New Era newspaper complaining of the disrespect being shown them by Union soldiers from Northern states and by the citizens of Fort Smith. The men were members of the 4th Arkansas Infantry (U.S.). The letter was dated from the men's camp at "Mazard Prairie."
This short-lived regiment was formed early in 1864 and merged with the 2nd Arkansas Infantry (U.S.) in October of that year. At its greatest strength, it included around 173 men, including officers and a surgeon, making up three companies.
Massard Prairie at Fort Smith, Arkansas
Coincidentally, the sites of three additional company-sized camps have been found at Massard Prairie, opposite or south of the branch from the main camp formed by four companies of the 6th Kansas Cavalry. This would have placed the men of the Arkansas battalion directly in the path of the Confederate attack and these men would have been the first hit, exactly as Southern accounts reported.
This evidence provides strong support then for the presence of the 4th Arkansas Infantry (U.S.) as well as the 6th Kansas Cavalry at the Battle of Massard Prairie. The scattering of two battalions of Federal troops instead of just one makes the Confederate victory there even more impressive and significant.
To read more about the battle, please consider my book:
The Battle of Massard Prairie: The 1864 Confederate Attacks on Fort Smith, Arkansas
The book is also available as an instant download for Amazon Kindle:
The Battle of Massard Prairie, Arkansas: The 1864 Confederate Attacks on Fort Smith
You can also learn more about the battle by visiting www.exploresouthernhistory.com/ArkansasCW4.
Posted by Dale at 1:43 PM 0 comments
Labels: 4th arkansas infantry, battle of massard prairie, battlefield, massard prairie
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
The Battle of Massard Prairie - July 27, 1864
Massard Prairie Battlefield Park
The 27th of this month will mark the 147th anniversary of the Battle of Massard Prairie, which took place in 1864 at Fort Smith.
The battle was an overwhelming Confederate victory and resulted in the death, wounding or capture of 151 Union soldiers from the 6th Kansas Cavalry and the capture of a large amount of arms, ammunition and other supplies from that regiment. The Confederates lost 33 killed, wounded or missing in the battle.
News of the cavalry fight was widely reported in both North and South during the weeks and months after the battle. Over the next week I will post some of the accounts that appeared in the newspapers of both sides.
The following is from the October 5, 1864, issue of the Augusta (Georgia) Chronicle and Sentinel which in turn was quoting the Meridian (Mississippi) Clarion:
An account is given of a brilliant little victory that was gained early in August by a party of Choctaw and Texas troops, all under Gen. Gano. The fighting took place five miles S.E. of Fort SMith, in Mesard Prairie. The Lincolnite forces consisting of the "Kansas Sixth" and the so-called home guards. The first had long been a "crack" regiment, alike noted for its ferocity, fanaticism and brutality. Gen. Gano divided his Texans into two bodies, while the Choctaws formed a third. One held in person on the center, whilst the others executed a flanking movement on either hand.
Advancing to the summit of an eminence where Yankee balls were whizzing all around him, Col. Folsom prevailed on his Choctaws to accompany him over a broad space to the face of the enemy. The other bodies charged simultaneously, and the robbers finding themselves previously assailed in front and on both flanks, commenced a skedaddle from the rear, whilst others fought with desperation, until assured of quarters, when they surrendered. - Many of our men clubbed with their guns and dealt stunning blows; several guns were in this way broken. One hundred and twenty-seven were captured and about sixty killed. The pursuit was kept up to within two miles of Ft. Smith. The number of the enemy's wounded could not be ascertained. Our men obtained a rich booty - 200 Sharp's rifles, 400 revolvers, hundreds of excellent saddles, a considerable number of over coats and many other things.
The Battle of Massard Prairie and a subsequent attack against the outer defenses of Fort Smith forced the Federals to pull most of their troops into the line of rifle pits and batteries that surrounded the city. This opened the door for the successful Confederate crossing of the Arkansas River that led to the stunning victory at Cabin Creek in what is now Oklahoma. The Cabin Creek fight resulted in one of the greatest supply captures of the entire Civil War.
To learn more about the Battle of Massard Prairie, please consider my book on the topic. It is also available in Amazon Kindle format. You can read more about the battle at www.exploresouthernhistory.com/ArkansasCW4.
Posted by Dale at 2:56 PM 0 comments
Labels: battle of massard prairie, cabin creek, fort smith
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
The Arkansas Wild Man - A Pre-Civil War Bigfoot in the Natural State
Mountains of Arkansas
One of my favorite Arkansas stories from newspapers dating before the Civil War is the tale of the famed Wild Man of the Woods, clearly a 19th century manifestation of the creature that most today know as Bigfoot or Sasquatch.
Reports in the Memphis Enquirer indicate the creature was first reported in eastern Arkansas as early as 1834. The first detailed account, however, was published in 1846 and repeated in newspapers across the nation. It told of sightings of the creature near Crowley's Ridge west of Memphis. The "wild man" was said to be of gigantic stature, covered in hair, and eyewitnesses said that "his track measures 22 inches, his toes are as long as a common man's fingers, and in height and make, he is double the usual size."
This was one of the first detailed accounts of the discovery of Bigfoot tracks in American history and came long before the first recorded sightings in the Pacific Northwest.
Swamp in Eastern Arkansas
Over the decades that followed, the Wild Man seems to have made regular appearances about every five years. He was seen chasing a herd of cattle in 1851 and Colonel David C. Cross of Memphis organized an expedition to capture him. The effort failed, but it seems to have been the first recorded Bigfoot hunt in American history.
Reports of the creature appeared again in 1856, this time in southern Arkansas and up into the Ouachita Mountains. A fairly bizarre report even told of a vicious attack on a man who was part of a group trying to capture the monster.
Bigfoot reports continue in Arkansas to this day, but the 19th century written accounts hold a unique place in the history of the United States.
To learn more about the real history of the Arkansas Wild Man, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/arwildman.
Posted by Dale at 4:02 PM 0 comments
Labels: arkansas, arkansas wild man, bigfoot, memphis, sasquatch, wild man, wild man of the woods
Friday, July 8, 2011
Murder at Massard Prairie - July 27, 1864
Massard Prairie
The 27th of this month will mark the 147th anniversary of the Battle of Massard Prairie, a remarkable cavalry battle fought at Fort Smith in July of 1864.
One of the little known aspects of this engagement is the alleged murder of Southern deserters that took place as Confederate troops stormed down the mountain from what is now the Fianna Hills subdivision onto the prairie in the first stages of their attack on the Union camp on the prairie.
The target of the Southern attack was the "Diamond" or "Picnic Grove" on Massard Prairie. An area of large trees on the otherwise open prairie, the grove was the site of a camp then occupied by a battalion from the 6th Kansas Cavalry along with several companies of the short-lived 4th Arkansas (U.S.).
As the Federals were about to discover, they were in a dangerously exposed position. They had been sent there to protect the herd of horses being grazed on the prairie and until the morning of July 27, 1864, were living a fairly good existence out on the prairie. A small stream flowed through their camp, providing good water, and the Union soldiers routinely raided area farms for beef and other foodstuffs.
Massard Prairie Battlefield Park
Some of these farms also provided food and other supplies to Confederate deserters. And to their misfortune, a group of these men had come in from the hills south of Fort Smith that morning to obtain food at the homes of John Barnes and Flem Johnson. These houses were located on the southern end of the prairie. Fifteen year old Joseph Barnes, a nephew of John Barnes, later described his first sight of the Confederate cavalrymen coming down the mountain onto the prairie. He had been sent out to keep lookout while a group of deserters got breakfast at the house:
...While they were getting breakfast, I saw a string of Rebels coming down the hill on the [South] side of the field. I ran to my uncle and said, "I see a bunch of Rebels coming yonder." They men made a break for the brush. Jonathan Glenn ran up the road to the West to cut into the brush and, as he did not see some of the Rebels, they got him. The others got away.
The soldiers seen by Barnes were members of Folsom's Choctaw Brigade. As their homes and farms had been severely looted during Union raids the previous winter, they were not kindly disposed towards Federal soldiers or Southern sympathizers. As one group swarmed around the Barnes house, a second detachment rode on to the nearby home of Flem Johnson, who "had the pneumonia and was expected by everyone to die."
According to Joseph Barnes, the soldiers found Johnson in bed and too sick to run from them. His account states simply that, "Rebels carried Flem out of his bed in the house and set him up against a tree and shot him to death."
The fates of the other men captured in and around the houses that morning are not known. Having quickly carried out the events described by Barnes, the Choctaws joined the main body of Folsom's column, which had been ordered to sweep around to the right and strike the east side of the Union camp at the Picnic Grove.
If you would like to learn more about the Battle of Massard Prairie, please consider my book on the engagement (also available in Amazon Kindle format at a reduced price). You can also read more at www.exploresouthernhistory.com/ArkansasCW4.
Posted by Dale at 2:02 PM 0 comments
Labels: battle of massard prairie, flem johnson, fort smith, massard prairie
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
May 4, 1864 - Another Union Account of the Battle of Poison Spring
Poison Spring State Park
In the weeks and months after the Battle of Poison Spring (April 18, 1864), a steady stream of letters trickled north from officers and men in the Union army.
Most of these came from soldiers in Thayer's column, which had marched south from Fort Smith to join in the Camden phase of the Red River Campaign. Since many of these men were from Kansas or associated with regiments from that state, a number of their letters wound up in newspapers there.
The following, for example, was dated from Fort Smith on May 4, 1864, and appeared in the White Cloud Chief newspaper in Kansas on May 26th:
Interpretive Shelter at Poison Spring
...They fought the rebels nearly half a day, until, overpowered by superior numbers, they were crushed and dispersed. When the officers of the Colored Regiment held up their arms in token of surrender, the enemy took their arms and blew their brains out. The negroes, seeing that no quarter was to be given them, stood and fired as long as they had ammunition, then took what they could from the dead around them; and when this failed, clubbed their guns and waded out. One company went in with 80 men, and was led out by the Orderly Sergeant, with only 11 men left. Most of the Cavalry escaped. About 60 of the 18th Iowa were taken. One-half of the officers of the 1st Colored are reported killed or wounded. Col. Williams escaped. All the trains and guns were of course captured. One Major got in, in the evening. His first words were: “Good God! Why didn’t you reinforce us?” The question was asked by hundreds. They heard the firing at Camden, for hours. Gen. Thayer wanted to send reinforcements, but Gen. Steele was not willing. There he lay, with 12,000 men, in hearing distance of the guns, (about 8 or 10 miles,) when they were not only willing, but anxious to go; and more, he let the dead and wounded lie on the field for four days, without caring for the wounded or burying the dead. The wounded died by inches, and crawled into camp on their hands and knees; and in some instances, not until a flag of truce came in from the rebels....
The writer, who identified himself only by the initials "O.B.G.," appears to have been in Camden during the battle, since he describes such details as the arrival of Union survivors there and being able to hear clearly hear the sound of the guns.
Fought when Confederate forces trapped and overwhelmed a Union foraging force, the Battle of Poison Spring was one of a series of disasters that hit Steele's column as it tried to march to Shreveport to link up with a larger Union army marching up through Louisiana. Federal losses in the fight totaled more than 200 killed and missing and 97 wounded, while Southern forces 13 killed and 81 wounded. The Confederates also captured more than 1,200 mules, 170 wagons, 4 pieces of artillery and all of the corn, furniture and other items seized by the Union forces as they rampaged through the countryside.
To learn more about the battle, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/poisonspring.
Posted by Dale at 7:37 PM 0 comments
Labels: battle of poison spring, camden, eyewitness, poison spring, red river campaign
Friday, June 24, 2011
War on Civilians in the Ozarks - The Depopulation of the Mountains
The Ozarks
While many stories are told of Sherman's March to the Sea and other campaigns, nowhere in the South did attrocities against civilians approach what happened in the Ozarks of Arkansas and southern Missouri during the Civil War.
Many of the mountain people had no interest at all in the war and most just wanted to be left alone. They had moved west to the Ozarks in search of country that they liked and the isolation and freedom that life in the mountains offered them.
When war came, however, the very isolation of the mountain communities and homes made them easy prey for a reign of terror waged by soldiers and guerrillas from both sides and outlaws who came only to raid, rob and destroy. By the winter of 1864-1865, in fact, so many of the mountain people had been killed, burned out or driven away that the Ozarks presented a scene of desolation unparalleled in American history.
Elkhorn Tavern
Built on Ruins of Tavern burned by Guerrillas
The following account of a report by a postal official appeared in a South Carolina newspaper:
In the resumption of mail service in the South, continued evidence of the despoliation of the land is brought out. An employee of the Post Office Department, now superintending mail matters in Arkansas, writes that “on the mail route from Fort Smith, in that State, to Caswell, in Missouri, there is not a house nor habitation where a mail carrier could refresh himself or beast, in a distance of nearly two hundred miles. From Fayetteville to Caswell, by the old mail road, the distance is seventy-five miles, and there is not a house or garden fence left standing, nor a field under cultivation. - Keowee Courier, November 11, 1864.
The terrorism inflicted on the people of the Ozarks would continue for many years after the war, with guerrilla bands and outlaws roaming almost at will through the region.
Some places to learn about some of the destruction in the region include War Eagle Mill and Blue Spring Heritage Center in Northwest Arkansas. Both were the locations of important water mills destroyed during the war. The famed Elkhorn Tavern at Pea Ridge battlefield in Benton County was also destroyed by guerrillas the year after the battle. The present structure was rebuilt on the ruins after the war ended. To learn more, please follow these links:
Blue Spring Heritage Center
War Eagle Mill
Pea Ridge National Military Park
Posted by Dale at 6:12 PM 0 comments
Labels: civil war, guerrilla, mountain, ozarks, raids
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
The Battle of Jenkins' Ferry, Arkansas - Capt. John Whiteford's letter to his wife
Jenkins' Ferry State Park
The letters of Captain John Whiteford, a Southern Unionist who commanded Company I, 1st Arkansas Infantry (U.S.) during the Camden Expedition of the Red River Campaign, reveal a great deal about the tribulations of a Southern family that fled north during the Civil War.
Whiteford was a resident of Texas when that state left the Union in 1861. Leaving his wife "among strangers" at Fort Riley in Kansas, he enlisted in the Union army. In September of 1863, he was appointed as the captain of Company I, 1st Arkansas (U.S.). In this capacity he served first in Sebastian County, but went on to fight in the Camden Expedition.
Saline River at Jenkins' Ferry Battlefield
On April 30, 1864, Whiteford was among the Union officers and soldiers who threw back the bloody attacks of Confederate forces at the Battle of Jenkins' Ferry on the Saline River near Sheridan, Arkansas. Under the command of General Kirby Smith, Southern troops tried to destroy the retreating Union army as it crossed the flooded Saline River at Jenkins Ferry. The attacks, however, were not well coordinated and the Federals escaped after inflicting heavy casualties on the Confederates.
Whiteford, who had never actually been mustered into the service and would later be labeled a "civilian" by the Union army, led his company in heavy fighting at Jenkins' Ferry and described the scene in a letter to his wife a short time later:
Jenkins' Ferry Battle Monument
...The infantry were in the rear to protect the train, and fight the rebels, while the balance of the army were crossing on the pontoon. It was a regular infantry fight. The rebels had four pieces of artillery in making the attack on us, but the Second Kansas Colored Volunteers captured that after the third charge, and then we had an even show. They massed their infantry on us and charged fiercely, but it was no go. Our regiment (Second Arkansas) distinguished itself. The dead rebels were thick over the ground. As we drove them back one man, by my side, was shot, and the bushes and sapplings were cutting down in front of me and bark and dirt thrown in my face, but no ball touched me. Thanks to God, who saw fit to spare my life awhile longer. The musketry was fiercer and more constant than at Prairie Grove. We fought all day on swampy land. The night before we were up all night in the rain in line of battle, and during the fight we were up to our knees in water, and when we had drove the enemy back we had to march on return four miles through mud knee deep. - Capt. John Whiteford, May 4, 1864.
Whiteford continued by describing the actual crossing of the Saline River, which took place at the site of today's Jenkins' Ferry State Park:
...Union families from Camden had to leave their carriages in the mud, and carry their children to the bridge. Men even dropped down in the confusion and wagons pass over them, it raining all the time. When we got across the bridge we had three miles more of such mud. Such a sight of women and children crying, and horses and mules dying, and wagons abandoned, I never saw. The rebels came to the river after we had crossed, but too late to do us any damage. We had destroyed the bridge that night, and all the wagons except one to each brigade. - Capt. John Whiteford, May 4, 1864.
Although the numbers may not be accurate, reported losses at the Battle of Jenkins' Ferry were 86 killed and 356 wounded for the Confederates and 63 killed, 413 wounded and 45 missing for the Federals.
You can learn more about the battle and today's Jenkins' Ferry State Park at www.exploresouthernhistory.com/jenkinsferry1.
Posted by Dale at 2:15 PM 0 comments
Labels: arkansas, battle of jenkins ferry, jenkins' ferry, john whiteford, saline river, sheridan
Friday, June 17, 2011
Eyewitness Account of the Battle of Poison Spring, Arkansas
Poison Spring Battlefield
The Battle of Poison Spring, fought near Camden on April 18, 1864, was one of the deadliest Arkansas encounters of the Civil War.
Around 3,600 Confederates overwhelmed a force of 1,160 Union troops trying to escort a train of around 200 wagons loaded with corn, supplies and various other items taken from farms in the area. The battle has since been one of the more controversial of the war in the west, due largely to allegations by Union officers and newspaper writers that Southern troops murdered surrendering African American soldiers from the 1st Kansas Colored Infantry.
Southern officers, however, attributed the high number of killed among the black soldiers from Kansas as being due to the fact that they would not surrender or give up their weapons.
A letter written by a lieutenant from the 1st Kansas seems to substantiate to some degree the Confederate version of events at Poison Spring:
Interpretive Panels at Poison Spring
We were attacked about 10 o’clock, a.m., and fought for about three hours, when our regiment was surrounded and we tried to cut our way out. We were fighting against ten thousand rebels. The [blacks] fought like hell. We had only 1,200 men but we repulsed the enemy three times. All our wagons (170) were captured. My captain, Armstrong, was killed, and Lieuts. Colman, Topping, Samuels and Hitchcock were all killed.
Capt. Welch, and Lieut. Macy, were wounded. Twelve of my men were killed and fifteen missing.
Wilson’s Creek was nothing compared with this fight. All the cannon were captured. Our regiment is literally cut to pieces. Our loss is three hundred killed and wounded. Most of the Iowa regiment were killed or taken prisoners. Our regiment would not surrender, but fought their way out.
This account, by Lieutenant D. McFarland from Company D of the 1st Kansas, appeared in the Marysville, Kansas, Big Blue Union newspaper on May 14, 1864. It clearly indicates that the 1st Kansas Colored did not surrender at Poison Spring, as many Union accounts soon claimed, but instead fought to the last.
To learn more about the Battle of Poison Spring and see photos of the battlefield, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/poisonspring.
Posted by Dale at 5:31 PM 0 comments
Labels: 1st kansas colored, battle of poison spring, camden, murders, poison spring
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Fort Smith NHS to host programs on Native Trees
Fort Smith National Historic Site
There is a neat educational program coming up on Saturday (June 18) at Fort Smith National Historic Site in Fort Smith that offers a great opportunity to learn about the original trees that grew in the area and how they were used by soldiers at Fort Smith decades before the Civil War.
Here are the details from the National Park Service:
Native Trees of Fort Smith
Trail of Tears Overlook at Fort Smith NHS
Saturday, June 18, 2011 at 10:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m., Fort Smith National Historic Site will present a program on the importance of trees to Native Americans, soldiers, and early settlers. To survive on the frontier, a good knowledge of how to use various trees was necessary. Program participants will learn about five trees used by the first soldiers at Fort Smith and how they were used in building the fort.
Fort Smith National Historic Site is located in downtown Fort Smith . To access the free parking lot from Garrison Avenue, turn south on 4th Street and west on Garland Avenue . For more information, please call the park at 479-783-3961.
Fort Smith National Historic Site preserves the remains of two important frontier forts that served the United States from 1819 through the end of the Civil War. The post was subsequently used as a base of operations for U.S. District Judge Isaac C. Parker, the "hanging judge" of the Old West, and his force of deputy U.S. marshals that brought law and order to the frontier during the turbulent years after the Civil War.
