Prairie Grove Battlefield State Park - Prairie Grove, Arkansas - Civil War Discovery Trail Sites on Waymarking.com

Prairie Grove Battlefield State Park is celebrated as one of the most intact Civil War sites.

The Battle of Prairie Grove took place on December 7, 2009.

A Confederate Army under the command of Major General Thomas C. Hindman, was keeping a presence protecting the area of northern Arkansas. A Union division under the command of Brigadier General James G. Blunt was moving into Arkansas to flush out Confederate resistance in the area. After many days of small engagements, with Confederate forces, General Blunt’s suspicions were that he was being probed by a much larger force, sent word back to Brigadier General Francis J. Herron who was located in Springfield, Missouri. General Herron force-marched his division into Northern Arkansas. To be clear, the terrain of the area is very rugged section of the Ozarks, wooded with small mountains.

Confederate General Hindman became aware of this and tried to form his strategy on his terms. He formed his battle line on a ridge overlooking the Illinois River. The battle began with a two-hour barrage of artillery shelling from both Union and Confederate forces without much success. Two Union charges were met with horrible results of being torn down by Confederate artillery.

Since Hindman, had done little but present a nuisance to Blunt, Blunt’s Union forces were quick to come to the sound of the fighting. Fighting continued through the day until darkness took over the battlefield. Casulties were about even between both sides of the battle. At the beginning of darkness, a mutual cease-fire was agreed upon to gather wounded and bury the dead, as was not uncommon for many Civil War battles. Having run out of ammunition, Hindman used this truce to retreat further deeper south into Arkansas.

While some historians will say this is a draw, other say that this was a Union victory, as they retained the field. The results of the battle were significant through the rest of the war. This was the last major conflict in northwestern Arkansas and never again, was this area able to be used as staging grounds for raids into Missouri.

The park began through the creation of the United Daughters of the Confederacy in 1908 as a place for Confederate Veteran reunions. Today, the Arkansas Department of Parks & Tourism administers the park. Also in the park is an excellent museum, with the highlight being the diorama, which accurately shows two scenes, each of a third of the battlefield. For my visit this diorama was used to describe the battle and results.

Within the park is a one-mile interpretive driving road, as well as a short walking trail.

Type of site: Battlefield Address: PO Box 306 Prairie Grove , AR USA 72753 Phone Number: 479-846-2990 Admission Charged: $5 or less Website: [Web Link] Driving Directions: From I-540 in Fayetteville, take exit 62 and turn west onto US Hwy 62. Follow about 12 miles to the park.

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Date Logged Log User Rating   09/11/2022 Don.Morfe visited it