PRAIRIE GROVE — Eight year-old Keeli Brown joined a small crowd, some with fingers in their ears, at Prairie Grove Battlefield State Park to watch history in action Saturday morning.
As Civil War re-enactors fired a mountain howitzer cannon, many flinched at the sound of the boom.
Designed to fire a 12-pound projectile up to 900 yards, the cannon was filled with a quarter pound of black powder. As the blank round exploded, smoke billowed out of the cannon, drawing applause from onlookers.
For members of the Prairie Grove Sons of Confederate Veterans Thomas C. Hindman Camp No. 656, Saturday’sevent was one more opportunity to teach park visitors about the Civil War.
The camp, chartered in 2010, has about 23 members, all of whom are descendants of Confederate veterans. They are part of the nationwide Sons of Confederate Veterans, an organization dedicated to preserving Confederate history.
Chuck Shiver, a member of the Hindman Camp and second lieutenant commander of the Arkansas Division, has numerous ancestors who were Confederate veterans in Georgia and Virginia.
“I’ve got 23 Confederate ancestors in the family,” he said.
Others, like camp commander Steve Roach, had family members on both sides of the war. One wastaken prisoner by Union soldiers and joined their cavalry to get out of prison. Another fought in Prairie Grove, while another was a Union soldier.
Keeli’s grandfather, Damon Hudson of Pea Ridge, attended the re-enactment event to ask about joining the group. Camp members and the national organization offer to help prospective members research genealogy to see if they have Confederate veteran ancestors. Hudson had already researched his family and discovered that some of his ancestors had fought at the Pea Ridge and Prairie Grove battles. He hopes to join the Hindman camp.
“I like fact that they are preserving the history of the Confederacy,” Hudson said.
Camp members talked tovisitors about the daily life of soldiers and answered questions about the many weapons on display, including musket rifles, pistols, swords and sabers.
“If a person is interested, we’ll talk to them all day,” Roach said.
Keeli posed for a picture with a musket so long it reached far above her head. She also listened as Shiver explained how the camp members make bullets for their guns by melting lead and pouring the molten metal into a mold. They use the bullets for show and for shooting during competitions.
Shiver said the group’s goal is to spark an interest so that when visitors go home they might look into the history ofthe Civil War and learn about the country’s past.
“Love it or hate it, it’s all our American history and our kids need to know,” he said.
As for the 1862 Battle of Prairie Grove, Roach said the soldiers suffered in the cold December night.
“A lot of the wounded soldiers froze to the ground because they couldn’t get up,” he said.
They also were starving.With scant food anywhere, Shiver said they likely ate whatever they could find.
“The area was picked bare,” he said, noting that Union and Confederate troops hadbeen through the area. “They stripped everything. There was nothing left.”
The Confederates lost the battle and fled to Van Buren, pursued by Union troops. Prairie Grove Battlefield State Park preserves the battle site. More than 3,000 Civil War re-enactors from across the country will be at the park Dec. 1-2 for the 150th anniversary of the historic battle.
Roach said, “the park will be buzzing like a beehive.”
Information is available at arkansasstateparks.com/prairiegrovebattlefield.
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 11 on 10/14/2012