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Arkansas Rallies to the
Call of the Civil War
South Secedes and Four Years
of Strife and Misery are Launched…Much Blood Spilled on State’s Soil
The Battle of Pea
Ridge
The Union force is put by one
Arkansas historian at 20,000 men. Another places it at 10,500 men.
Estimates ranging between those figures have also been made. Whatever
the number of the federal troops was, it is certain t hey were far
better equipped than the Confederates were, and that is where a great
deal of the advantage in battle rests. Moreover, they occupied a strong
position.
The Pea Ridge battlefield is
a plateau about 10 miles long and five miles wide, in the northern part
of Benton county. It was, when the engagement occurred, a jumble of
small fields, strips of timber, and patches of dense undergrowth, which
afforded the federal force much natural shelter. Besides trees had been
felled across the roads by the Union troops.
It snowed just before the
battle opened. Against that white background, the flash and smoke of
long, irregular columns of gunfire made a strange, weird scene. The
hills and woods shook with the hollow reverberation of cannon and
musketry, as the Confederates launched their attack. They met with
stubborn resistance. Withering cross-fires were poured into the gray
ranks from concealed federal artillery and infantry. But again and
again the Confederates assaulted their foe. Through the greater part of
three days, the fierce, costly fighting raged, with the scales of
victory inclining to the Southern side.
But the final outcome was
scarcely decisive. Losses were heavy for both armies, including for the
Confederates two brave and able officers. General McCulloch and General
McIntosh. Except for the death of those two commanders, the battle
might well have been a complete Southern triumph. On that point, Col.
John M. Harrell, wrote in the Confederate Military History:
“The battle was conducted (by
the Southern forces) upon a daring and master plan that would have
proved a crushing victory over the Federals had McCulloch and McIntosh
lived to execute it on their part. The confusion and inactivity that
followed their deaths saved the enemy.
The brave Confederate dead who fell on the field March 6, 7, & 8, 1862
General W.Y. Slack of Missouri
General Ben McCullouch of Texas
General James McIntosh of Arkansas
"Oh give me the land with a grave in each spot,
and names in the graves, that shall not be forgot;
Yes, give me the land of the wreck and the tomb,
There's a grandeaur in grave, there's a glory in gloom."
A number of skirmishes
occurred at various points after the Pea Ridge engagement. But there
was no force in the state strong enough to effectively halt the federal
advance. Van Dorn and Price crossed the Mississippi, taking many
Arkansas troops with them. Governor Rector and the state delegates in
the Confederate Congress protested against removing so many Arkansas
soldiers from the state, and leaving it inadequately defended. As a
result, Gen. T.C. Hindman, a vigorous and daring leader, was put in
command of the Arkansas district.
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