Dripping Springs, Part Two

Continuing our look at the Battle of Dripping Springs, Arkansas, this photo shows the historic Cove Creek Road. The old road still leads south from Prairie Grove into Crawford County, passing through the spectacular scenery of the Boston Mountains.

This was the road followed by General J.G. Blunt's men as they pushed south from Cane Hill to a planned junction with General F.J. Herron's force at Oliver's Store north of Dripping Springs. Blunt's troops passed down this section of the road on the morning of December 27, 1862.

Although this photograph was taken during the summer, the 1862 movement was actually made in the dead of winter. Soldiers wrote in their journals and letters home that the mountains were covered with snow and ice and that Cove Creek was filled with freezing water and slushy ice.

Blunt and Herron undertook the expedition despite the severe weather in hopes of surprising the Confederate forces camped in and around Van Buren. A Confederate cavalry force was camped at Dripping Springs north of Van Buren to watch for such movements, but the advancing Federals did not encounter Southern horsemen until the next morning.

Our look at the Battle of Dripping Springs will continue, but in the meantime you can read more and see additional photographs by going to www.exploresouthernhistory.com and looking for the link under the Battlefields and Forts heading in the left hand column.