Two state battlefields getting donations from Civil War Trust

The Battle of Prairie Grove on Dec. 7, 1862, was the last major engagement in Northwest Arkansas and resulted in ending any major presence of the Confederate Army in that region of the state and in Missouri for the remainder of the war.

Two Civil War battlefields in Arkansas are among 10 selected by the Civil War Trust that will have individual donations for land preservation matched 10-to-1 for the remainder of December, the national nonprofit announced.

The preservation effort includes saving 448 acres at the Elkins’ Ferry Battlefield, north of Prescott in Nevada County, and 40 acres at Prairie Grove Battlefield in Washington County.

The two sites account for about 41 percent of the 1,180 acres in seven states that the Civil War Trust fundraiser is targeting for preservation.

The Engagement at Elkins’ Ferry on April 3-4, 1864, was part of the Camden Expedition, the Arkansas portion of the Red River Campaign. Confederate forces led by Brig. Gens. John Marmaduke and Joseph Shelby attacked a Union column commanded by Maj. Gen. Frederick Steele that was intending to cross the Little Missouri River in southwest Arkansas.

There were 92 casualties in the battle, a Union victory, according to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas online site at encyclopediaofarkansas.net.

The Battle of Prairie Grove on Dec. 7, 1862, was the last major engagement in Northwest Arkansas and resulted in ending any major presence of the Confederate Army in that region of the state and in Missouri for the remainder of the war. The Confederates, under Maj. Gen. Thomas Hindman’s command, suffered 204 killed, 872 wounded and 407 missing. Union forces reported 175 killed, 808 wounded and 250 missing, according to the online Encyclopedia of Arkansas.

“The Elkins’ Ferry purchase of 448 acres is huge,” said Mark Christ, spokesman for the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program. “It covers the majority of land where the fighting took place on April 4 of 1864. The property will be owned by the Nevada County Depot and Museum. They will work with local and state partners to develop it as a heritage and tourism site.”

Though different accounts of the engagement spell the battleground name as Elkin’s or Elkins, including variations in the battlefield description on the Trust’s website and on the Elkins’ Ferry Battlefield Preservation group’s website at saveelkinsferry. com, the preferred spelling is Elkins’ Ferry, Christ said.

The Prairie Grove property also is significant, he said.

“It includes land where [ Brig.] Gen. James Blunt’s Union brigade of the Army of the Frontier made an attack on the Confederate left on Dec. 7, 1862, that resulted in the battle coming to a bloody standstill as darkness fell. Then the Confederates retreated that night because they were out of ammunition,” he said.

Meg Martin, communications manager with the Civil War Trust, said the 40 acres for the Prairie Grove Battlefield will become part of Prairie Grove Battlefield State Park, an addition to the 270 acres the Trust had previously saved at that battlefield. The property at Elkins’ Ferry is the first land the Trust has ever saved at that site.

“These successes will bring the total battlefield land saved by the Trust in Arkansas to over 800 acres,” Martin said in an email Friday.

Other battlefield acreage that the Civil War Trust wants to preserve include sites in Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Maryland, Oklahoma and Colorado. Combined, the 10 battles in those locations accounted for more than 43,000 casualties, according to the Trust.

The sites at Honey Springs, Okla., and Sand Creek, Colo., along with the two Arkansas battlefields, were part of the Trans-Mississippi Theater west of the Mississippi River.

“It is really quite noteworthy that this fundraising campaign includes four of the Trans-Mississippi battlefields, including the two in Arkansas,” Christ said. “Both battles at Honey Springs and Sand Creek involved Native Americans.”

The fundraising drive will match every $1 donated with $10.10 through the end of December, according to the Civil War Trust announcement. Tax- deductible donations can be made through the Trust’s website at civilwar. org, which also has more information on each of the 10 battlefields.

Outside of the matching program, checks also can be sent to the Trust, restricting a donation to a specific battlefield, Martin said.