Bloody Battle Remembered

Prairie Grove decisive moment in Civil War

The firestorm launched by Confederate troops against the Union Army on Dec. 7, 1862, at Prairie Grove is described by Capt. H.C. Palmer of the 11th Kansas Infantry in William L.

Shea’s “Fields of Blood”:

“The rebels came sweeping out of the timber in solid column, lifting their guns with fixed bayonets above their heads. They came on with a yell, like 7,000 demons as they were, and were within 300 yards of us when the command “FIRE” was given. Twelve guns, double-shotted with grape and canister, swept great holes through their column!”

Dec. 7, 2012, marks the 150th anniversary of what has been described as the last major battle of the Civil War in Arkansas. Although it was not one of the biggest or bloodiest conflicts in the war between the Union and the Confederacy, it proved to be a decisive point in the fighting because it became clear Missouri would remain under Union control.

Prairie Grove Battlefield State Park hosts a battle re-enactment every evennumbered year. The cannons will boom again Saturday and Sunday with period activities including tours through the Union, Confederate and civilian camps and cooking, spinning and lacemaking demonstrations, along with other living history programs.

In the past, about 800 reenactors have participated, but this year the number could be as high as 3,000, said Alan Thompson, museum registrar for the park. Admission is free this weekend, and parking is $5 per vehicle.

The conflict at Prairie Grove on Dec. 7, 1862, followed the Confederate defeat at Pea Ridge on March 7 and 8, 1862.

The Southern commander at Pea Ridge, Gen. Earl Van Dorn, was requested by Gen.

P.G.T. Beauregard to move all his troops to Corinth, Miss., and join a gathering force that would fight the Battle of Shiloh, a move that left Arkansas defenseless, stripped of food and prey to marauders.

Arkansas Gov. Henry Rector complained and Confederate President Jefferson Davis agreed to send Maj. Gen.

Thomas Hindman to the state’s support. Hindman soon collected and organized about 11,000 men into the Army of the West and moved the new Confederate army into northwestern Arkansas.

Hindman sought to avoid large bodies of Union troops until such time as he felt his army was ready for stand up battle. But in late summerand early fall of 1862, Maj.

Gen. John Schofield moved three divisions of Union troops into southwestern Missouri and across the line into northwestern Arkansas, gradually forcing Hindman’s soldiers south near Fort Smith.

With the Confederate withdrawal and the possibility of battle diminished, Schofield pulled two of his divisions back to Springfield, Mo., leaving just the Kansas Division of Brig.

Gen. James G. Blunt, numbering about 5,000 men.

It was, Hindman decided, the ideal time to move north with his army of 11,000 soldiers and crush Blunt’s 5,000-man division. But scouts informed Blunt the Confederate army was preparing to move, and Blunt’s army was the most likely target. He telegraphed to Springfield forreinforcements. Schofield, the Union commander, was sick and had traveled to St. Louis for treatment, and the cry for help from Blunt came to Gen. Francis J. Herron, who immediately put both divisions on the march from Springfield south to Cane Hill. It took Hindman’s troops two days to march from Van Buren to a spot near Cane Hill. It took Herron three days to march from Springfield to Prairie Grove. Hindman planned to catch Blunt’s unit alone and wipe out the threat to northwestern Arkansas.

But in the dark hours of Dec. 6, Hindman got news Union reinforcements were on the march to support Blunt. So Hindman changed his plans and turned toward Fayetteville. He got as far as Prairie Grove before encountering Herron’sadvance cavalry units early on Sunday morning, Dec. 7.

And so the stage was set for battle in the sparsely settled Prairie Grove. The boom of cannon, rattle of artillery, moans of the injured and screams of dying horses echoed through that Sunday.

Finally, just before midnight, Hindman decided his troops were fighting a hopeless battle. The shattered Confederate troops struggled back to the south, leaving many bodies to be buried in a mass grave.

Whats Up, Pages 15 on 11/30/2012

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