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Pea Ridge National Military
Park
Civil War Site
Pea Ridge, Benton County, Arkansas |
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Leetown
The small hamlet near here included two stores, a blacksmith
shop, Masonic hall, church, school, and several residences.
During the fighting some of the buildings were used by the Union
Army as hospitals.
Stand to Your Posts!
Officers and men, you have it in your power to make or prevent
another Bull Run affair, I want every man to stand to his post!
-
Nicholas Greusel, colonel, 36th Illinois Infantry Regiment
Yankee cavalrymen, mauled from a sharp fight with 7,000
Confederates, raced back across Samuel Oberson's cornfield from
the belt of trees you see in the distance. "Turn back!" They'll
give you hell!" some troopers shouted as they sped by the
infantrymen moving into line of battle.
Two predominately German-speaking regiments-one from Missouri
and one from Illinois-would have to stand and fight here without
flinching. If they broke and ran, Pea Ridge would become as
infamous as the July 1861 Union disaster at Bull Run near
Washington, D.C.
Leetown Battlefield
...this battle...was a mass of mixed up
confusion from beginning to end...Would to God it was night or
reinforcements would come. -
William Watson, sergeant, 3rd Louisiana Infantry Regiment
A Fierce Tangle in Morgan's Woods
Four regiments of volunteers from Arkansas and Louisiana, moving
"with all the vim and vigor [of] regulars," ran headlong and
unawares into two Illinois regiments near here. The close-range
fighting was so intense that men from both armies threw
themselves flat on the ground to survive the hurricane of flying
lead.
Military order dissolved. Squads of soldiers rushed from stump
to log to tree in the thick, tangled undergrowth, kneeling to
fire. An Illinois soldier later said he could not see even 20
feet ahead. Chaos and combat raged through Morgan's Woods all
afternoon, as dense smoke from thousands of muskets obscured the
darkening forest.
Save the Cannons!
A Crisis in
Command
We must not let the men know that General McCulloch is killed.
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Benjamin Pixley, Lieutenant, 16th Arkansas Infantry.
The General in charge of this half of the Confederate Army -
Texan Ben McCullouch- had formed his division, some 7,000 strong,
just out of sight behind the trees you see in the distance.
Before ordering a massive charge into Oberson's cornfield, "Old
Ben," as his troops called him, rode alone to the edge of the
trees for a final scout. Yankee skirmishers behind a rail fence
shot the popular general dead.
General en McCulloch (left) customarily wore a lack velvet suit
instead of a uniform. As the former Texas Range
reconnoitered the woods' edge he was easy to see.
General James McIntosh (right) charged at the head of the 2nd
Arkansas Mounted Rifles - out of the line of trees and into
heavy federal fire. He died not 200 yards from the spot
where McCullough had been slain.
No Confederate Solider or officer saw McCullouch fall. Minutes
passed with no word. Finally second-in-command General James
McIntosh took over, only to die while leading a charge out of
the woods. With no leader to give orders for more than an hour,
the momentum that might have led to a swift Confederate victory
at Leetown was lost.
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Benton County
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Pea Ridge
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