November 24, 1862: Marmaduke crosses the Mountains

Edge of the Boston Mountains at Canehill

Following on the heels of the Union cavalry's reconnaissance to Van Buren (see yesterday's post), General John S. Marmaduke was ordered to follow it back across the Boston Mountains with his three brigades of Confederate horsemen.
Moving up the Cove Creek Road from the Dripping Springs area of Crawford County less than 24 hours after 600 Federals withdrew back across the mountains, Marmaduke emerged from the mountains at Cane Hill on November 24, 1862 (149 years ago today).

Combined, the three brigades under Marmaduke's command should have numbered well above 5,000 men, but this was not the case. A good example can be found in the reports of Colonel Charles A. Carroll's Arkansas Brigade. While his force on paper should have numbered some 1,700 men, Carroll had only 517. Of this number, in fact, only 200 were reported as "effective" while the remaining 317 were either sick or mounted on horses too worn down to be fit for service.

Looking down into Cove Creek Valley

The other Confederate brigades were in no better shape and Marmaduke's force moved up to Cane Hill at perhaps one-third strength. He did not even have sufficient horses to move his batteries of light artillery across the mountains.

It was a dangerous move to put a weak force within striking distance General James G. Blunt's Union Division in Northwest Arkansas, but Confederate commanders believed it to be a necessary one as they continued to prepare their full army for a move across the mountains.

Cane Hill (now spelled Canehill), which was occupied by Marmaduke's men on the night of the 24th, was then one of the most important communities in Northwest Arkansas. In the center of an agricultural area just above the mountains and about 20 miles southwest of Fayetteville, it was home to Cane Hill College, a mill and a small business community:

Cane Hill College (Post-War Building)

…Cane Hill is a ridge of perhaps 8 miles length and 5 miles width, in the southwest part of Washington County, Arkansas, just beyond the north base of the Boston Mountains. Three villages are built upon it (Russellville, Boonsborough, and Newburg), which almost blend with each other, covering a distance, as the road to Fayetteville runs, of 3 or 5 miles…. The distance from Van Buren to Newburg is 45 miles. The intermediate country is a rugged and sterile range of mountains. - Maj. Gen. Thomas C. Hindman, C.S.A., Dec. 15, 1862.

Each of the three Confederate brigades pitched camp in one of the three small villages at Cane Hill, with the northern-most camped near the Cane Hill College buildings. These positions taken, the Southern commanders pushed heavy patrols of their own north along the roads to look for any signs of Union forces in the area. Some minor skirmishing would take place the next day.

I will continue posting on the Prairie Grove Campaign over coming days, so be sure to check back through the holiday weekend for more.  Until the next post, you can read more at www.exploresouthernhistory.com/ArkansasPG1.

Cane Hill College - An Educational Landmark in Northwest Arkansas

This old brick building on College Avenue in Canehill holds a unique place in the history of Arkansas. It was the last structure built to house Cane Hill College, one of the most remarkable educational institutions of the 19th century.

Northwest Arkansas was still the frontier in 1834. Fledgling settlements were taking root, one of the most important of which at the time was actually made up of a series of three communities located atop a ridge known as Cane Hill. Surrounded by good farm land in the shadow of the Boston Mountains, the settlement was well populated and a center of of activity by the Cumberland Presbyterian Church.

By the fall of 1834, the progress of the community had reached a point to allow the early settlers to think of such things as schools for their children. On October 28th of that year a group of Cumberland Presbyterians met and voted to establish Cane Hill School, which opened the following year in a two-room log building.

By the time of the Civil War, the school had progressed to become the first four-year college in Arkansas and was operating from a campus of four buildings. When most of the students of the all male school enlisted in the Confederate army in 1861, Cane Hill College closed its doors for the duration of the war.

On November 28, 1862, the Battle of Cane Hill swept across the campus as Union troops attacked Confederate forces in an important preliminary action to the Battle of Prairie Grove. Confederate artillery fired from the hill adjoining the campus and the dorm building was used as a Union military hospital after the battle. It took on more patients after the Battle of Prairie Grove on December 7, 1862.

By the end of the war much of Cane Hill had been burned to the ground and only one building from the pre-war college survived. The school would rebuild and go on to become the first coed college in Arkansas and shortly afterwards graduated the first five women to receive four-year degrees in the state.

The growth of Fayetteville and establishment of what would become the University of Arkansas, along with a destructive fire in 1885 ultimately led to a decision by the Arkansas Synod to close the doors at Cane Hill in 1891 and relocate the school to Clarksville where it continues to thrive today as the University of the Ozarks.

The building built to house the college after the 1885 fire still stands, however, and is a unique and special part of the heritage of Arkansas. To learn more, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/canehillcollege.

Battle of Cane Hill, Part Four

This is part four of a series on the Battle of Cane Hill, Arkansas. To read the previous posts first, please scroll down the page.

For nearly an hour the Union artillery exchanged fire with Confederate cannon posted on the heights near Cane Hill College. The Confederate advance, under "Fighting Jo" Shelby, had been surprised by the sudden appearance of the Federal troops, even though - as Shelby himself admitted - they had known for 18 hours that the enemy was coming.

Seriously outnumbered by the unfolding Union line of battle, Shelby held his position on the northern edge of town for as long as he could, then withdrew in good order to a second position along a ridge about three quarters of a mile south of his original line. The fighting withdrawal took the soldiers of both sides past the college grounds, which are now open to the public.

Reaching his new position, Shelby found the rest of Marmaduke's Confederates already in line and waiting for him. Falling into line with their reinforcements, the Confederates looked back and beheld a sight they would never forget:

Here the naked eye could see General Blunt’s columns of cavalry and infantry pouring over the hills in our front, and advancing slowly and cautiously to the attack. It was a splendid sight – flaunting banners, serried ranks, as the long lines came gleaming on….

Our series will continue. Until the next post, you can read more by visiting www.exploresouthernhistory.com and looking for the "Battle of Cane Hill" link under the Battlefields and Forts heading (on the left column of the home page).