The Red River Campaign in Arkansas

This month marks the 145th anniversary of the Union's disastrous Red River Campaign.

In Arkansas, the campaign resulted in a series of battles between Confederate forces and the Union army of General Frederick Steele. Although the Arkansas phase of the campaign is best noted for the Battles of Poison Spring, Marks Mill and Jenkins Ferry, there were a number of other encounters as well.

It was 145 years ago today, for example, that Steele faced General Sterling Price in a noisy but otherwise inconclusive battle at Prairie D'Ane, Arkansas. After considerable long range firing, Price withdrew his outnumbered army from the field without the Union forces detecting the movement.

Realizing that he was facing growing opposition and growing critically short on provisions and other supplies, Steele decided to temporarily halt his advance to Shreveport and took up positions behind the fortifications of Camden, Arkansas. The coming week would see one of the bloodiest fights of the campaign, the Battle of Poison Spring.

We will begin retracing the movements of the Red River Campaign in Arkansas over coming days, so be sure to check back in throughout the next couple of weeks for the latest updates.

Queen Wilhelmina State Park Temporarily Closed

News outlets are reporting that Queen Wilhelmina State Park near Mena has been temporarily closed due to a power outage from a tornado that struck the area, killing three people.

The park is without power, but did not suffer other damage. If you are planning a visit over the weekend, you should check with them at (479) 394-2863 before heading out. Mena, where the worst of the damage has been reported, is a few miles from the park, but has experienced a major disaster.

Damage was also reported at Mt. Magazine State Park near Paris, where shingles were blown from the roofs of the lodge and visitor center. If you are planning a visit there this weekend, you might contact them at 1-877-MMLodge to check on conditions before heading out.

You can learn more about Queen Wilhelmina by visiting www.exploresouthernhistory.com/ARWilhelmina1 or Mount Magazine by visiting www.exploresouthernhistory.com/armagazine.

Unique Tribute to a Civil War Act of Mercy

This unique statue at Fort Smith's Oak Cemetery marks the grave of James E. Reynolds.

Reynolds rose through the ranks of Company K, 30th Mississippi Infantry, during the Civil War, eventually becoming its captain in 1865. He was wounded at the Battle of New Hope, Georgia, during the Atlanta Campaign. After the battle, he was rescued from the battlefield by two local teenage girls with other women of the area to help the wounded. It was a gesture of mercy that Reynolds never forgot.

He went on to become a successful business leader in eastern Oklahoma and western Arkansas during the decades after the war and is remembered as the builder of Oklahoma's unique Captain's Castle in the small town of Cameron near Fort Smith. In his beautiful home he dedicated a room to Confederate heroes, decorating the walls with flag-draped portraits of famed Southern leaders. He called himself an "unreconstructed Confederate" all of his life, but did offer to fight for the United States during World War I and even contacted the famed Confederate "Gray Ghost" John S. Mosby to discuss forming a unit of aged Southern soldiers to fight in Europe.

Reynolds and his wife Felicity, a descendant of the famed Choctaw leader Greenwood LeFlore, both died in 1920. Over their graves was erected a monument in the form of a statue of a wounded Confederate officer being helped from a battlefield by two young girls. It was Reynolds' final tribute to the memory of the two young Georgia girls who helped him at New Hope Church more than fifty years before.

To see a larger photo of the Reynolds' monument, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/oakcemetery. To learn more about the castle that Reynolds built in Cameron, Oklahoma, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/castle1.

Oak Cemetery - Fort Smith, Arkansas

One of the most historic cemeteries in the United States can be found in Fort Smith.

Oak Cemetery was established at about the time Fort Smith was founded and contains the graves of hundreds of individuals that played critical roles in the history of the Western Frontier. Among these are soldiers, lawmen, a governor, Old West outlaws and even a Confederate spy.

Scattered through the cemetery can be found the graves of at least 122 Confederate soldiers, all of whom died during the decades following the war. Listed among them is Sarah Ish Parke, a female Confederate spy, courier and smuggler.

The cemetery also contains the graves of 28 men executed by order of another Civil War veteran, Judge Isaac C. Parker. Remembered as the "Hanging Judge" of Fort Smith, Judge Parker served on the bench for the Western District of Arkansas during the decades following the war. He and his deputy marshals brought law and order to the wild and violent frontier. A Union veteran who served in the 61st Missouri Emergency Regiment, Parker hanged more convicted men than any Federal judge in American history. Among the burials at Oak Cemetery are 28 men, all convicted of murder, who met their fates on the gallows at Fort Smith.

Also buried at Oak Cemetery are more than 100 deputies, guards, court officials and posse members who served under Judge Parker.

To learn more, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/oakcemetery.

Fairview Cemetery - Van Buren, Arkansas

Confederate soldiers are buried in cemeteries across Arkansas, but one of the largest concentrations I have seen is at Fairview Cemetery in Van Buren.

The burial ground is located on a rise just north of downtown Van Buren and was in use at the time of the war. Soldiers buried here include men killed or mortally wounded at the Battles of Wilson's Creek, Missouri, and Pea Ridge, Prairie Grove, Cane Hill, Dripping Springs and Van Buren, Arkansas. Over 400 of the graves are of unknown soldiers.

The ridge along the northern edge of the cemetery was used as an artillery position by Union soldiers during the Battle of Van Buren on December 28, 1862. Rifled cannon placed here dueled with Confederate cannon firing on the town from across the Arkansas River.

Markers in the cemetery detail its history and a monument in its northeast corner pays tribute to the hundreds of Southern soldiers buried there. Other graves include a monument to one of the signers of the original Arkansas constitution and an unusual "mystery grave" that some claim was left behind by Hernando de Soto during the 1500s. It appears more likely, however, to date from the early days of the town's settlement as the form of the grave is similar to those found in other Southern graveyards from the same era.

To learn more about the Battle of Van Buren, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/vanburenbattle1. You can see additional photos of Fairview Cemetery in the "Online Tour" section.

Eureka Springs, Arkansas

If you plan to do some Civil War site exploring in Northwest Arkansas, a good base for doing so is the beautiful and historic community of Eureka Springs.

Less than 30 miles from Pea Ridge National Military Park on U.S. Highway 62, Eureka Springs is a major Spring travel destination in the Ozarks. There are a number of sites in the area with Civil War connections, including Pea Ridge, Blue Spring Heritage Center, War Eagle Mill and the Buffalo River area. Eureka Springs itself is a well-preserved Victorian era community noted for its amazing array of historic structures that range from America's "Most Haunted Hotel" to Thorncrown Chapel, an architectural landmark.

The city boasts a wide array of hotels, bed and breakfast inns, cabins and even treehouses as well as restaurants, cafes, unique shops and a variety of points of interest. Eureka Springs is also the per capita wedding capital of the United States. More people go there to get married each year than actually live in the town!

To learn more, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/eurekaindex.

Rich Mountain Pioneer Cemetery - Arkansas

Deep in the Ouachita Mountains of Arkansas, a small community of settlers struggled through the brutal years of the Civil War in almost total isolation. Their existence is memorialized today by the Rich Mountain Pioneer Cemetery on the Talimena Scenic Drive near Queen Wilhelmina State Park.

Most of these people simply wanted to be left alone. Their daily efforts to scratch a living from the top of the mountain occupied them far more than the issues behind the war that then raged across much of the continent. Some came to escape the ravages and raids taking place in more accessible areas of the state. Others were "Mountain Feds" or Union sympathizing Arkansans who fled to the mountains to avoid being conscripted into the Confederate military.

Regardless of their reasons for going high up on the mountain, the people living there during the war barely survived. Severe winter weather, hunger and sickness stalked the community. One of the more tragic stories of the time is still remembered today in the form of a ghost story about a young girl who went to a spring to obtain water for her sick family only to be cornered in a tree by wolves. Her body was found the next day, frozen stiff in the tree where she had sought shelter.

Now part of the Ouachita National Forest, little remains other than the cemetery to remind modern visitors that the community ever existed. The cemetery is located just west of Queen Wilhelmina State Park. Interpretive signs and a short pathway to the burial ground are maintained by the Forest Service.

To learn more, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/richmountainghost.

Battle of Devil's Backbone, Arkansas

Over recent days I've posted about the movement of Union troops over the Boston Mountains from Northwest Arkansas and the attacks at Dripping Springs and Van Buren in Crawford County. When Fort Smith itself finally came under attack, however, the threat came not from the North but from the West.

The summer of 1863 found General James G. Blunt and the Army of the Frontier at Fort Gibson(temporarily called Fort Blunt) in what is now Oklahoma. On July 17th he had launched a preemptive strike against a Confederate army gathering to attack him, defeating General D.H. Cooper at the Battle of Honey Springs or Elk Creek.

By August, Blunt was moving east fort Fort Smith. General W. L. Cabell tried to hold him back but morale was bad and his force was rapidly disintegrating. Cabell had formed his men along the bank of the Poteau River just west of Fort Smith, but he knew the position was untenable. Rather than await the expected attack, he quietly withdrew during the night of August 31, 1863.

As the Federals advanced on the morning of September 1st, they found the Confederate positions abandoned. Moving forward, General Blunt ordered Colonel William F. Cloud to take the army's cavalry and pursue Cabell who was believed to be in full retreat to the South. Blunt, meanwhile, occupied Fort Smith.

Cloud pursued the Confederate army, skirmishing briefly with Southern cavalry at Jenny Lind, but then rode blindly into an ambush laid for him by Cabell at Devil's Backbone, a long ridge that stretched from near Greenwood, Arkansas, across the line into eastern Oklahoma.

From positions along the ridge, Cabell's men rose and opened fire on Cloud's approaching cavalry, inflicting casualties and sending the Federals scrambling for safety. Heavy fighting broke out and both sides brought artillery to bear, although most of the cannon fire went too high.

If you would like to learn more, check out the newly updated pages on the Battle of Devil's Backbone at www.exploresouthernhistory.com/devilsbackbone. The site includes photographs of the battlefield, an in depth account of the battle and both Union and Confederate reports.

Butterfield Stage Line - Devil's Den State Park, Arkansas

The mountains that surround Devil's Den State Park near West Fork in Northwest Arkansas are the location of a wide array of historic sites.

One of the most significant is the trace of the old Butterfield Stage Line route, which passes through this valley and is now a hiking trail accessible to park visitors. Established in 1857 to link the cities of St. Louis, Missouri, and San Francisco, California, the Butterfield line was one of the most remarkable commercial enterprises in American history.

With 250 stagecoaches and over 800 employees, the stagecoach line began delivering mail along a more than 2,000 mile route connecting St. Louis and San Francisco in 1858. Sections of the original road, which was also known as the Telegraph or Wire road, can be seen at several locations in Arkansas. One part passes through Pea Ridge National Military Park in Benton County, while another section is still used by modern traffic in the Rogers area. A third section passes through Devil's Den State Park.

The outbreak of the Civil War brought the Butterfield line to an end just three years after it began operation. The section of the route through Devil's Den was used during the war by both Union and Confederate troops, as well as by the guerrilla bands that hid out in the Boston Mountains.

In addition to the old stagecoach route, now called the Butterfield Trail, Devil's Den State Park also preserves beautiful mountain terrain that includes bluffs, rock formations, caves, the largest sandstone crevice area in the United States, caves and more. To learn more, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/ardevils1.

The Battle of Dripping Springs, Arkansas

In a post earlier today, I discussed the Battle of Van Buren, Arkansas. The engagement was preceded by a smaller fight several miles north of Van Buren at Dripping Springs.

When General Thomas Hindman had withdrawn his forces back to Van Buren and Fort Smith in the days following the Battle of Prairie Grove, he ordered Lt. Col. R.P. Crump and the 1st Texas Partisan Rangers (30th Texas Cavalry) to take up a position at Dripping Springs to watch for any movement across the Boston Mountains by the Union Army of the Frontier.

Crump and his men set up camp on the north slope of a commanding ridge, where they could observe the main road leading south from the mountains to Van Buren. Pickets were posted up the road to provide advance warning of any threat to the camp.

As the Union army moved out of the mountains on the morning of December 28, 1862, with 8,000 men and 30 pieces of artillery, they were alerted to the presence of Crump and his men by a local Unionist civilian. Generals James G. Blunt and Francis Herron moved forward with 3,000 cavalrymen and 4 pieces of artillery to engage Crump's regiment.

The Federals came into position on the level ground below the Confederate camp and formed a line of battle that stretched through both woods and open fields. In the mass charge that followed, they drew sabers and stormed across the fields. The Confederates, outnumbered by more than 4 to 1, resisted briefly before withdrawing from their camp and retreating up the road to Van Buren. The Union troopers went up and over the ridge and pursued Crump's men into the streets of Van Buren.

To learn more about the Battle of Dripping Springs, please visit our newly updated pages at www.exploresouthernhistory.com/ARDrippingSprings1.

Battle of Van Buren, Arkansas

Fought on December 28, 1862, the Battle of Van Buren was an important skirmish that was the last real fight of the Prairie Grove Campaign.

Three weeks earlier, Union and Confederate forces had battled to a stalemate during the brutal fighting at Prairie Grove. Union generals James Blount and Francis Herron had considered pursuing General Thomas Hindman's battered Southern army back across the Boston Mountains, but winter weather intervened.

Then, three weeks after the Battle of Prairie Grove, they received incorrect reports that Hindman was being reinforced for another attack over the mountains. In reality, his army was rapidly disintegrating as he struggled to hold it together in camps around Van Buren and Fort Smith. Hoping to avoid another surprise, Blount and Herron set out from their camps in Northwest Arkansas on December 27, 1862.

Moving across the rough mountains, they struck Crump's regiment of Texas cavalry at Dripping Springs north of Van Buren on the morning of December 28th. Crump's men briefly resisted, then fell back on the road to Van Buren, skirmishing with the oncoming Federals as they went.

The troops reached Van Buren so fast that there was no time to warn the citizens of the coming battle. The people of the town were going about their daily business along the main street when they were stunned by the sight of soldiers on horseback storming down the street.

Crump's men boarded a ferry on the Van Buren waterfront and most managed to escape, despite artillery fire from the Union troops. Fighting then spread to various points along the Arkansas River as the Federals moved to capture steamboats that were trying to escape down the river. Two boats were forced to shore, looted and destroyed. Three others were fired by the Confederates themselves to save them from capture.

At about 2:30 in the afternoon, Confederate forces opened fire on Van Buren with a battery of artillery placed on the opposite side of the river. The Union troops responded with a battery of rifled guns positioned at Fairview Cemetery. The exchange lasted for some time and it was estimated that as many as 100 Confederate shells fell on the town, killing and wounding a few soldiers and civilians and also doing damage to some of the homes and other structures.

You can learn more about the Battle of Van Buren by visiting our new pages that are now online at www.exploresouthernhistory.com/vanburenbattle1. The link will take you to a complete site on the Battle of Van Buren that includes photographs, transcripts of official reports and a detailed history of the battle.

Fort Gibson Historic Site - Fort Gibson, Oklahoma

Although it is located across the line in eastern Oklahoma, historic Fort Gibson played a major role in the Civil War in Arkansas.

The old fort near Muskogee was the base for operations against Fort Smith in 1863, a campaign that resulted in the occupation of the Fort Smith area by Union troops and the Battle of Devil's Backbone.

After Federal troops occupied Fort Smith, the two installations were closely linked. Soldiers and supplies constantly moved back and forth between the forts, and in the process often provided tempting and easy targets for Confederate forces. General Stand Watie, for example, targeted steamboat traffic between the two forts with great success in 1864.

Union troops went to extraordinary steps to defend Fort Gibson during the war. The encampments were surrounded with strong earthworks, a small portion of which can still be seen at the historic site. They also launched an attack that led to the Battle of Honey Springs during the summer of 1863 in an effort to defend the post against a rumored Confederate attack.

If you would like to learn more about this historic fort, which was a major installation on the Oklahoma frontier for much of the 19th century, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/okfortgibson.

Blue Spring Heritage Center - Eureka Springs, Arkansas

In yesterday's post I mentioned the destruction of numerous water-powered gristmills across the Ozarks region of Arkansas during the Civil War. Another site of a destroyed mill can be found at Blue Spring Heritage Center just outside of Eureka Springs.

Blue Spring was a noted landmark of 19th century Arkansas and had been a campsite on the Cherokee Trail of Trears. Early settlers built a mill here, using the powerful flow of the spring to turn the wheel. Like many similar facilities, the gristmill at Blue Spring was targeted during the war and went up in flames.

A few traces of the early pioneer industry can still be seen and interpretive signs on the grounds tell the story of the mill and its important role to the lives of the original settlers of the region. The grounds of the Blue Spring Heritage Center are noted as being among the most beautiful in the South. In addition to the magnificent natural spring and mountain setting of the park, there are magnificent planted gardens that will be coming into full bloom in early April.

Blue Spring Heritage Center is located 6 miles northwest of Eureka Springs off Highway 62. The park opens for the season on March 15. To learn more, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/eureka3.

War Eagle Mill - Northwest Arkansas

As the disorganized survivors of General Earl Van Dorn's Confederate army made their way back south from the Battle of Pea Ridge, a large group camped at the War Eagle Mill.

Still the site of an operating water-powered gristmill and the location of one of the most popular arts and crafts fairs in the nation, War Eagle helped feed both armies at various points of the Civil War. On the night after the battle, the fresh water of War Eagle River was a welcome sight for the exhausted and hungry Confederates.

The mill, however, did not survive the war. It was burned during the dark years between 1862 and the end of the war and, due to the hard and turbulent times of Reconstruction, was not replaced until 1873. The current structure, built in 1973, is a modern reproduction.

Structures like the War Eagle Mill were located along streams, rivers and creeks throughout the Ozarks region, but few survived the Civil War. Vital places where both armies could grind grain, they evolved into military targets as the war continued. Guerrilla bands and regular forces torched many of the mills, depriving not only enemy forces of their use, but also local citizens who depended upon the water-powered mills for survival.

War Eagle Mill is located 12 miles from Rogers, Arkansas, and 25 miles from Eureka Springs. To learn more, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/wareagle.

The Final Union Attack at Pea Ridge

This view looks across the open fields of the Pea Ridge battlefield and shows the ground across which the Union army attacked on March 8, 1862, 147 years ago today.

The second day of fighting at the Battle of Pea Ridge opened with the Union army arrayed in full line now facing the Confederates who had formed in the cover of trees south of Elkhorn Tavern. The Confederate army had been dramatically reduced by the defeat of the attack at Leetown and now Van Dorn was outnumbered. The Confederates were also bone tired. They had been marched too hard through bad conditions on their way to the battle. In addition, they were running very short on supplies, including ammunition.

The Federals opened the second day of fighting with a massive bombardment of the Confederate positions. Battery after battery of Union guns rained fire on the Southern lines, creating chaos and heavy casualties.

Then, beginning with its left flank, the Union infantry began its main attack. Striking the weakened Confederate lines like a sledgehammer, the Federal attack split Van Dorn's army in two. His right flank began to retreat up the Telegraph Road, accompanied by Van Dorn and Price, Union in hard pursuit.

The left flank of the Confederate line was essentially abandoned by its commander and the men began to make their way from the battlefield as best they could. Many were captured.

When the cannon thunder in the Ozarks subsided, Samuel Curtis had one one of the most remarkable victories of the Civil War. Missouri was preserved for the Union and Van Dorn's army had been shattered. More than 3,000 men were killed, wounded or captured in the fighting and to this day it is impossible to know exactly how many Confederates were lost. A Southern army that had marched into battle with more men, more cannon and an excellent plan had been smashed. The blame, most felt, fell directly on Earl Van Dorn's shoulders. He drove his men too hard prior to the fight and then led them in the battle exhausted and with insufficient supplies. In addition, he lost over all control of the fight and much of the army battled with no specific orders from its commanding general.

This assessment was confirmed by his disastrous performance at Corinth, Mississippi, later in the year.

The site of the Battle of Pea Ridge is now preserved at the Pea Ridge National Military Park in Benton County, Arkansas. Just a short distance south of the Missouri line, the park preserves more than 4,000 acres of the battlefield and offers a visitor center, driving tour, walking trails, exhibits, interpretive stops and the restored Elkhorn Tavern.

To learn more, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/pearidgeindex.