Background
Union
Union forces in Missouri during the latter part of 1861 and early 1862 had effectively pushed Confederate forces out of the state. By the spring of 1862, Union Brigadier General Samuel R. Curtis determined to pursue the Confederates back into Arkansas with his Army of the Southwest.
Curtis moved his approximately 10,500 Union soldiers and 50 artillery pieces into Benton County, Arkansas, along a small stream called Sugar Creek. Union forces consisted primarily of soldiers from Iowa, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, and Ohio. Over half of the Federal soldiers were German immigrants.
Curtis found an excellent defensive position on the north side of the creek and proceeded to fortify it and place artillery for an expected Confederate assault from the sou
Confederacy
Confederate Major General Earl Van Dorn had been appointed overall commander of the Trans-Mississippi District to quell a simmering conflict between competing generals Sterling Price of Missouri and Benjamin McCulloch of Texas. Van Dorn's Army of the West totaled approximately 16,000 men, including 800 Cherokee Indian troops, contingents from the Missouri State Guard, Confederate cavalry, infantry and artillery from Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana and Missouri.
Van Dorn was aware of the Union movements into Arkansas and was intent on destroying Curtis's Army of the Southwest and reopening the gateway into Missouri.
Prelude
General Van Dorn did not wish to attack Curtis's entrenched position head on. On March 4, 1862, he split his army into two divisions under Price and McCulloch and ordered them to march north along the Bentonville Detour with the hopes of getting behind Curtis and cutting off his lines of communication. Van Dorn left his supply trains behind in order to make better speed, a decision that later proved to be a crucial one.
The Confederates made an arduous three day forced march down the road leading from Fayetteville through Elm Springs and Osage Spring to Bentonville in the midst of a freezing storm. Many of the Confederate soldiers were ill-equipped and barefoot, and it was said that one could find the army by following the bloody footprints in the snow. The Confederates arrived at their destination strung out along the road, hungry and tired.
Compounding the Confederate problems was the late arrival of McCulloch, which led Van Dorn to split his forces in two. Van Dorn ordered McCulloch to circle around the western end of Pea Ridge, turn east along the south face and meet Price's division at Elkhorn Tavern. Van Dorn and Price would travel east along the north face of the ridge, secure Elkhorn Tavern, and wait for McCulloch.
These delays allowed Curtis to begin repositioning his army to meet the unexpected attack from his rear and get his forces between the two wings of Van Dorn's forces.
Action at Bentonville, Ark.
Warned of danger by scouts and Arkansas unionists, Curtis rapidly concentrated his outlying units behind Little Sugar Creek. (Note that Wild Bill Hickock did not scout for Curtis.) On March 6, William Vandever's 700-man brigade made a remarkable march of 42 miles in 16 hours from Huntsville to Little Sugar Creek.
However, on Curtis' right flank, his second-in-command Brigadier Franz Sigel became careless. He sent off a 360-man task force to the west. These soldiers would miss the fighting of the next three days. Unwittingly, Sigel also withdrew a cavalry patrol from the road on which the Confederate army was advancing. Luckily, Colonel Frederick Schaefer of the 2nd Missouri, on his own initiative, extended his patrols to cover the gap. When Van Dorn's advance guard blundered into one of these patrols near Elm Springs, the Federals were alerted. Still, Sigel was so slow in evacuating Bentonville that his rear guard was nearly snared by Van Dorn on March 6.
Inexplicably waiting until the Southern advance was nearly upon him, Sigel ordered his 600 men and six guns to fall back on a road leading northeast toward Curtis' position. The 1st Missouri Cavalry led by Elijah Gates attacked Sigel's force from the south, trying to cut off the retreat. Gates' men surprised and captured a company of the 36th Illinois, but many were freed when Sigel's withdrawing men unexpectedly bumped into the group. Sigel managed his little force capably and managed fight his way through Gates' men, but he was helped by a blunder by Brigadier General James M. McIntosh.
The Confederate general planned to envelop Sigel's men from the northwest while Gates closed the trap on the south. However, McIntosh mistakenly took his 3,000-man cavalry brigade too far up a northerly road. After marching three miles out of his way, he turned his troopers onto the road leading east into the Little Sugar Creek valley. By the time they reached the place where Sigel's northeast road met McIntosh's east-bound road, the Union general's men had just passed the intersection. A Southern attempt to press the pursuit was repelled when the 3rd Texas Cavalry charged, only to run smack into Sigel's main line. The Confederates lost 10 killed and about 20 wounded to a sudden blast of Northern artillery and rifle fire.
Geography
Plan of the Battlefield of Pea RidgeCurtis placed his four small divisions astride the Telegraph or Wire Road in a fortified position atop the bluffs north of Little Sugar Creek. From the creek, the Telegraph Road went northeast to Elkhorn Tavern where it intersected the Huntsville Road leading east, and Ford Road leading west. From Elkhorn, the Wire Road continued north and down into Cross Timber Hollow before crossing the border into Missouri. From there, the Union supply line followed the Telegraph Road northeast to St. Louis. The hamlet of Leetown lay north-west of the Telegraph Road, about halfway between Curtis' position on the bluffs and Ford Road. Curtis made his headquarters at Pratt's Store, located on the Wire Road between Elkhorn and Little Sugar Creek.
Van Dorn hoped to reach the Union rear by way of the Bentonville Detour. This started from Camp Stephens, which was west of Curtis' position. From there, the Detour led northeast onto the Pea Ridge plateau. At Twelve Corner Church, Ford Road branched off, leading east to Elkhorn. From there the Detour continued northeast, where it met the Wire Road just north of Cross Timber Hollow. South of the Bentonville Detour, west of Cross Timber Hollow and north of Ford Road lay the militarily impassable Big Mountain.
On the night of March 6, Colonel Grenville Dodge led several parties of soldiers in obstructing the Bentonville Detour. Dodge had suggested this to Curtis, who had approved of the idea. Between Twelve Corner Church and Cross Timber Hollow, they chopped trees down across the road. That same evening, Van Dorn's army, with Price's Division in the lead, began the long march to Cross Timber Hollow. The night march was slowed by the need to clear away Dodge's obstructions, Van Dorn's lack of an engineer corps, poor staff work and the exhaustion of the Confederate soldiers.
Federal forces reported 203 killed, 980 wounded and 201 missing for a total of 1,384 casualties.[13] Of these, Carr's 4th Division lost 682, almost all in its resolute stand on the first day, and Davis' 3rd Division lost 344. Asboth and Carr were wounded. Van Dorn counted his losses as 800 killed and wounded, with between 200 and 300 prisoners, but these are probably too low. A more realistic estimate is that the Confederates suffered 2,000 casualties in the Battle of Pea Ridge. These losses included a large proportion of senior officers. Generals McCulloch, McIntosh, and William Y. Slack were killed or mortally wounded, and Price wounded. Among colonels, Hébert was captured, and Benjamin Rives was mortally wounded.
Separated from their supply train, Van Dorn's main body retreated through very sparsely settled country for a week, living off what little food they could take from the inhabitants. They finally reunited with their supply train south of the Boston Mountains.
With the defeat at Pea Ridge, the Confederates never again seriously threatened the state of Missouri. Within weeks Van Dorn's army was transferred across the Mississippi River to bolster the Army of Tennessee, leaving Arkansas virtually defenseless.
With his victory, Curtis proceeded to move east to West Plains, Missouri. Then he turned south into undefended northeast Arkansas. He had hopes of capturing Little Rock, but this proved impossible because of a lack of supplies. Instead, following the approximate course of the White River, Curtis continued south and seized Helena, Arkansas on July 12.
Today
The battlefield at Pea Ridge is now Pea Ridge National Military Park. The park is known as one of the best preserved Civil War battlefields. A reconstruction of Elkhorn Tavern, scene of the heaviest fighting, stands at the original location. The park also includes a 2.5 mile (4 km) section of the Trail of Tears.
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