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Civil War Interactive Discussion Board > Civil War Talk > Civil War Museums > Finally seeing the Civil War sites I've missed |
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Civil War Interactive Discussion Board > Civil War Talk > Civil War Museums > Finally seeing the Civil War sites I've missed |
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| Finally seeing the Civil War sites I've missed | Rate Topic |
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| Posted: Sat Oct 11th, 2008 01:59 pm |
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41st Post |
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susansweet Member 
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Asbel what got me is I learned it from a children's book. When I was teaching I was always a student too. Guess I am still both. Susan
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| Posted: Mon Oct 13th, 2008 09:19 pm |
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42nd Post |
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David White Member 
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Day 2: As my car slipped and shot out stones behind it on the damp dirt road at the final summit before the Cabin Creek Battlefield Park, I thought back to the time I made my wife drive the old Bruinsburg Road from Bruinsburg to Port Gibson, Mississippi through the Port Gibson Battleground. I still hear about that one, so I thought to myself, be glad you’re on your own this time. Cabin Creek Battlefield would be the smallest one I would visit on this trip but strangely the most monumented of the lot. The monuments included the brand new 1st Kansas Colored Volunteer Infantry monument. Cabin Creek is actually two battles in one, not unlike Bull Run but on a much smaller scale. Cabin Creek itself is an important impediment on the Military or Texas Road between Ft. Scott, KS and Ft. Gibson, OK (Or in Civil War terms the Indian Territory). Stand Watie and his troops figured prominently in the two actions here. In the first, in early July 1863, Watie was intercepting supplies bound for Gibson and General James Blunt’s planned build up of Federal forces there in July 1863. The first battle was a failure for Watie, as his men were repulsed primarily through the efforts of the 1st Kansas Colored Regiment. Returning to the area over a year later on September 19, 1864, Watie, now under the command of General Richard M. Gano of Texas, met success this time, capturing 300 wagons and $1.5M in supplies. Gano, Watie and their Texas and Indian troops had a tremendous feast that night after over three years of harsh war. The park is very small, less than 100 acres so I walked the entire park and read every monument in about 30 minutes. The monuments for the most part commemorate the later battle and granite markers denote the position of every regiment and battalion. The Union positions are at the top of the fairly steep bank above the creek and the Confederate positions are opposite them by about 50 yards. Heading Northeast again as I hit the three corners of Oklahoma, Missouri and Kansas I got off the interstate and headed for Baxter Springs, KS. The town is definitely a financially depressed area today but has some very interesting old houses that are on the left just after you cross the Spring River into town that were probably there the day William Quantrill and his band rode into town on their way to a winter stay in Texas on October 6, 1863. I was arriving three days short of the 145 anniversary of the events that happened there. Sitting on a hill opposite the site of the old earth and log fort that sat on the Texas Road and with the springs sitting between them is the Baxter Springs Heritage Center and Museum. It chronicles the town’s history from prehistoric times until the present and it really quite an impressive museum for the size town it is. Sure there are many items that one readily finds in your average small town antiques store but there are many interesting item of local value that chronicle the town’s history, especially the local lead and zinc mining operations. The incident at Baxter Springs during the Civil War captures an entire row of cases, with displays, letters and artifacts that chronicle that fateful day in October. Also of Civil War interest in the front lobby is a 12 pound Confederate Napoleon knockoff made in Richmond, VA during the war. After the war it was given to the local GAR to celebrate holidays with live firings. The staff at the museum was very friendly and helpful. They have a driving tour of the sites related to the incident at Baxter Springs. The driving tour takes you to all the relevant sites, many now in the residential areas of town. It starts on the river where Quantrill and his men forded the river, takes you to the place where he divided his command to attack the fort and shows the route of the two columns that unsuccessfully attacked the fort from the south. The fort site is preserved and there is some evidence of the fort but not much. Quantrill was driven off by the few companies of the USCT that were occupying the fort along with a howitzer that they had for defense. The fort is about 20 acres and across the street from it, is a marker for the place where the Federal dead were initially buried until 1869. Today it is someone’s front yard. The driving tour next takes you to the highest point in town that overlooks the fort where Quantrill gathered his men to regroup for a second attack on the fort. But while he was doing that, word came that a more lucrative target, a supply train was coming down the Texas Road along with General Blunt and the Fort Scott band. The tour takes you to the place the attack began and shows how it became a running battle to the north and northwest as Blunt, his men and his wagons were routed. The tour takes you to the ravine where many of Blunt’s men tried to surrender but instead were mustered out to eternity by the Missouri Guerillas. Another stop takes you to the location where the Fort Scott tooters were forced to briefly become shooters before being captured, murdered and their bodies burned with the wagons that carried their instruments. This site is now an older lower middle class housing area. The last stop on the tour was to the National Cemetery where the casualties of the attack on the fort and the massacre were finally buried in 1869. A large Civil War monument dominates the cemetery. From there it was on to Wilson’s Creek and the Moonlight tour. I arrived about an hour before they closed the Visitor’s Center to prepare for the tour. I watched the film (a pretty good one by the NPS standards), looked at the displays and made my best $20 purchase of the trip when I bought Hess, Piston, Shea and Hatcher’s book Wilson's Creek, Pea Ridge, and Prairie Grove: A Battlefield Guide, with a Section on Wire Road. I also purchased the audio tour of the battlefield, which I will talk about in a later installment. Before the tour, the Friends of the Wilson Creek Battlefield Foundation had a Chili and Pie supper. Since most of the people there were locals, many who knew each other, I mostly sat by myself and ate. One of the serving ladies came over and introduced herself as Roseann Blunt. Still in my Civil War frame of mind I said, “Are you related to the famous Blunt?” She replied, “Yes, I’m his mother.” “Pardon me,” I said with a puzzled look. She replied, “Yes, I’m the governor’s mother.” Here I was thinking I was asking her if she was related to General James Blunt and it turns out she was the mother of Missouri’s second youngest governor ever, Matt Blunt and the ex-wife of the minority whip in the US House of Representatives, Roy Blunt. Other than the “pardon me.” I never let on to her that I was asking about the 19th Century Blunt and not the 21st Century one. The moonlight tour was the best $5 I spent on the trip. Buses took us through the pitch black darkness of the park going the wrong way on the tour road. In each of our pockets was a pass signed by “Pap” Price giving us permission to enter into the Confederate lines. The buses of 20 or so people were dropped off where the historic Wire Road crosses the tour road, just south of the Ray House. The bus monitor told us about the battle on the way and said we were to pay attention to the name of Private Smith who we would be hearing a lot about throughout the evening. Once on foot on the Wire Road, we were greeted by an older woman in period costume with a lantern who enquired why we were there. The bus monitor told her we were civilians from Springfield come out to look for relatives among the dead and wounded. It was the evening after the battle and we were transported back into time. As we walked up the road and around the Ray House we came upon various vignettes acted out by reenactors in proper attire and uniforms. All the vignettes seemed somewhat melodramatic but there probably was a certain amount of drama the real night of August 10, 1861. The older woman initially handed us off to a private in the Missouri State Guard who would walk us to these various vignettes. The first stop was among some MSG litter bearers who were picking Pvt Smith up off the battlefield wounded and moaning and carrying him to the Ray House. The next stop was to listen to some men from the Arkansas Pulaski Battery as they told what they had seen that day including the death of Lt. Omar Weaver who had his arm removed by a cannon shot to the shoulder. The next vignette was to Private Smith’s messmates as they wondered what happened to him and what they had seen that day. Their vignette ended with Pvt. Smith’s favorite fiddle tune in hopes that he would hear it and return to them. The next Vignette was behind the Ray House where a surgeon sawed on Pvt. Smith’s leg and removed it to throw it in a bloody pile of other limbs. The sawing and moaning were probably too subdued in this vignette. The next morning when I returned, I saw all the blood (food dye) on the ground and the little pieces of PVC pipe used to making the sawing noise. In front of the Ray House we met the Rays themselves, who wondered if their world would ever be the same. Back on the Wire Road, we arrived on the scene of the battlefield burial of Private Smith who had obviously succumbed to his wounds. The burial party went through his belongings and found an optimistic but unfinished letter to his mother, which they read aloud to each other. The final stop on the Wire Road before we returned to the bus was at the tent of General Rains, who composed a letter home with his adjutant to the mother of Private Smith. He told the adjutant to take out some upsetting particulars about his wounding and the fact that he did not die right away. He then made a great stump speech. He said he did not like killing his Missouri brethren who were misguided and followed the Union but he had no problem killing Kansans and those low “Dutch.” With that, the evening was over, except for a little checking up on football scores and watching the last game of the day. This had been the first fall Saturday in decades where I was not consumed by College Football; it was really weird for me. To Be Continued… Last edited on Mon Oct 13th, 2008 09:28 pm by David White |
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| Posted: Mon Oct 13th, 2008 10:20 pm |
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44th Post |
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susansweet Member
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David that was great, wish I had been there to see all that. Keep the stories coming . Susan
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| Posted: Mon Oct 13th, 2008 11:21 pm |
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45th Post |
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pamc153PA Member
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Yes, David, keep spinning your tale--I'm learning a lot, and am living vicariously through your description! Can't wait for the next installment. Pam
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| Posted: Tue Oct 14th, 2008 09:39 pm |
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46th Post |
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David White Member
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Day 3: Before heading to the Wilson’s Creek Battlefield Park, I stopped at the stop and rob you store next to my motel in Springfield to obtain a bottle of water and some bug spray. I was amazed that gas prices were only $3.33 for premium. While talking to the clerk I learned that part of the reason is the low tax on gasoline. He said the price only got above $4 dollars once and only briefly last summer. He however attributed the low price of gasoline to the overall economic depression of the area. I was starting to appreciate what we have in Texas, sure we’ve been hurt by the economy too, but probably not as bad as some of these areas in the Ozarks. The clerk told me that he and his manager were both graduates with master’s degrees and work in the convenience store was the best job they could find in the area. I was shocked when he said that police officers covet their jobs because they pay more than police work. I Was at Wilson’s Creek when it opened that morning. The park already had a steady stream of visitors but other than a dozen or less other visitors, I had the “battlefield” to myself as the other visitors were there for walking, running, bike riding or horse riding purposes. Wilson’s Creek has to be the most horse friendly Civil War Park I’ve ever seen, they provide parking just for horse trailers and the local riders do seem to use and enjoy it. I loved the battlefield, it is small and not that many official stops but there are numerous trails throughout the park that connect the various sites and it is quite picturesque. At first I planned to walk them all because the weather was perfect, sunny and in the low 70s. But decided that was not practical if I wanted to start Pea Ridge that afternoon. But I did walk most of it and certainly walked to all of the locations of major historical significance. The first stop and trail is for the Gibson farm and Mill where the initial contact between Union and Confederate forces took place just west of Wilson’s Creek itself on the northern spur of Bloody Hill. Camped in that area were the cavalry forces of General James Rain’s Missouri State Guard. Rains sent a warning to the overall Confederate commander Ben McCullough, but because Rains had, in McCullough’s opinion, cried wolf earlier in the month, he ignored this initial warning. Acoustic shadows would play a key role in this early battle of the war and that had an effect as the battle began and later in the battle. The trail takes you to the mill site and the farm site of the Gibsons. At the mill the west bank is steep as it climbs up Bloody Hill and the creek, which is nearly fordable throughout the park, is quite deep here. Evidence of the sluices Gibson dug to funnel water to his mill are still clearly visible. The Gibsons were quite wealthy for the area from their mill business which was the primary commerce center for all the local farmers and for their large acreage of farm land. The local farmers were for the most part Unionists (ironically southern Missouri was pro-Union and northern Missouri was mostly secessionists) but they were still supplying the Confederate Army camped in their little area of bounty, mostly through impressments. In between the first two stops I walked the advance of Joseph Plummer and his regular battalion through the Ray’s cornfield. For those not familiar with Wilson’ Creek and Pea Ridge, both battles are prime examples of audacious plans to perform a double envelopment of the enemy from front and rear, with overly ambitious goals that were pulled off just enough to make historians go “what-if” they had scaled back the effort or had done a little more to pull it off? In the case of Lyon at Wilson’s Creek, he was really outnumbered but still audacious enough to attack, hoping surprise would carry the day and it nearly did. Lyon divided his force into two with Franz Sigel going all the way around the enemy to attack from the rear (south) and Lyon would attack at the sound of the guns from Sigel toward the south. But Lyon then further subdivided his little force and sent Plummer in search of the Confederate right flank near the Ray House and to protect his own left flank. The problem was Lyon and Plummer could not readily support each other due to Wilson’s Creek, especially the deep part being between them. So now, an outnumbered but still audacious Lyon was split into three forces with his more numerous opponents between them. The Ray Cornfield is still planted with corn so what I saw as I advanced through the cornfield is what Plummer’s men saw. The second stop describes the plight of the local families even more, as it is at the Ray House. This home was the post office and Butterfield Stage stop on the Wire Road. Ray was the postmaster for the area and sat on his front porch watching the battle unfold in his corn field while his family hid in the cellar. As Plummer’s men entered the Ray’s cornfield, McCullough finally realized he had a problem. To his credit he kept his head and ordered the men who would be the unquestioned shock troops of the day, the 3rd Louisiana and the 1st and 2nd Mounted Arkansas Rifles, to the edge of the Ray Cornfield where they surprised and disrupted Plummer’s advance. The Wire Road is quite evident as it goes past the Ray House as it heads north to Jefferson City and south and west to California. Based on the recommendation of my tour book I did not go to the east overlook as they said it was only a good view in the winter time. But I did hike the trails to Price’s HQ, McCullough’s HQ and the Pulaski Battery Site. At Price’s HQ site the original Edward’s cabin is gone, but they moved the post-war cabin of the same man to the site, so it may not be the original but the construction is said to be the same. Standing in front of the cabin it is easy to see why the Confederates chose the location, a nice flat open prairie with plenty of water about. Behind and to the left of the cabin is the southeast spur of Bloody Hill and I could imagine members of the Missouri State Guard fleeing into the flat prairie announcing to a startled Price and McCullough that the Yankees were atop Bloody Hill, only to have the artillery shortly begin to play over the Confederates in their camps brewing their morning coffee and preparing their breakfast. The Pulaski Battery Site indicates where that Arkansas battery was positioned so it could fire on the Federal troops in the Ray cornfield and atop Bloody Hill. The brother versus brother story of the Civil War is also told through this battery’s story. Called the Totten Battery before the war it was named for its battery commander James Totten. But when the war came, Totten cast his lot with the Union and was in command of the 2nd US battery. In anger, the Arkansas men changed the battery’s name to the Pulaski Battery. During the battle, Totten on Bloody Hill and his old battery exchanged several rounds and one of Totten’s shots ripped the arm off of one of his former lieutenants, Omar Weaver The tour then goes to the second and final position for Franz Sigel and his enveloping force (the first position is off the park proper but one of the horse trails goes to it). The final position is astride the Wire Road and about 200 yards south of the Wire Road ford on Wilson’s Creek. Unfortunately for Federal partisans, Sigel set up his one battery of artillery on the crest of the embankment from the creek and except for two regiments flanking this battery, his little force remained in column formation behind the battery on the road. Sigel’s men were actually supposed to open the battle from the south but the acoustic shadows prevented both Lyon and McCullough from realizing his presence leading to inaction by both. From his final position, it was possible for an attacking unit to remain sheltered by the embankment to the creek until they were about 40 yards away from Sigel’s’ Battery and that is exactly what happened. After driving Plummer off in the Ray Cornfield, McCullough turned his Louisiana and Arkansas shock troops about face and marched them the ¾ of a mile to the Wilson’s Creek ford on the Wire Road and attacked Sigel’s force, driving them in a rout from the battlefield. Sigel had lost his nerve a mere half a mile from reuniting with Lyon’s men on bloody Hill. The next three stops interpret the ultimate fighting of the battle on Bloody Hill. The first is the battery position for the Missouri State Guard Guibor battery showing its position half way up the slope of Bloody Hill. The next to last stop is actually Bloody Hill where a tremendous view of the whole battlefield is available. The site of Totten’s Battery is marked by cannon. The trail takes you to the Lyon monument which implies that this is the site where Lyon was killed. But in reality, according to the tour book I bought, it is the site where his horse was found dead after the battle and the site of Lyon’s second of three wounds that day. According the tour book, his third and fatal wound probably occurred on the park road near the actual tour stop. The terrain on top of Bloody Hill reminded me so much of my favorite hiking trails in the Texas hill country, the same prairie grass, scrub oaks, cedar trees, prickly pear and stony ground. The only difference was they don’t have mesquite trees in Missouri. The Bloody Hill trail then takes you to the overlook where you may see the opposite view observed from the Edward’s cabin. The trail winds back to the parking lot past the sinkhole but except for marking it on the park map, there is nothing telling visitors that this was a battlefield burial site at one time. In fact, if the guide book had not told me to look for it, I might have missed it. The sinkhole accounts for most of the ghost stories associated with Wilson’s Creek. The bodies were hastily buried in the sinkhole after the battle and removed to the Springfield National Cemetery after the war. The final stop is at the rear of Bloody Hill and makes a complete circle of the battle figuratively and literally, as the stop talks about Lyon’s force’s advance to Bloody Hill and his retreat from it. On the slope of this open field, you may see the camping site of Rain’s cavalry, which sustained the first combat contact of the day. From the battlefield I drove across the road to the former Tom Sweeny Museum. It is now in the hands of the NPS and your admission to the park gets you in here too. I spent an hour and a half looking at this wonderful collection that emphasizes the war on the Mississippi and the Trans-Mississippi. It is a must see and quite a handsome collection, but not as big as the Texas Civil War museum as I pointed out in my day one narrative, despite the Sweeny’s claim of being the biggest trans-Mississippi Civil War Museum. From there, it was on to Pea Ridge where I arrived an hour and a half before closing time. My intention was to view the Visitor Center displays and movie and head to my hotel for the night. But the ranger suggested that since this was Sunday that I should go to stop 8, the Elkhorn Tavern, and see it that day because it would be closed and locked up on Monday and besides they had rangers dressed up in period costume today and not tomorrow. I decided to take that advice. For some reason I asked, “What happens if you aren’t out of the park by 5 p.m.?” She replied, “They lock the gates on you and you can’t get out.” So I proceeded down the park road pushing the 25 MPH speed limit to maximize my time but quickly got behind a man and a woman on a Harley going about 15 miles an hour. Of course they seemed to get angry I was right on their tail but they were not stopping at the tour stops and not going any faster. Finally between stops three and four they pull over and I whipped around them and they both gave me the one fingered salute and he said, “Hey *******, are you here to see the battlefield or not?” I thought it was ironic. I finally make it to the Elkhorn Tavern site with an hour to spare. After looking at the inside of the tavern and trying to engage the reenactors in conversation I walked outside (apparently I am not as interesting as the 20 something young lady they were talking to). I still had 45 minutes, so I decided I still had time to hike the one major hiking trial in the park located at that site. But I was about to find out I discombobulated myself. There are two trails at the site, one is a one mile nature trail the other is the three mile historic trail. I took the historic trial thinking it was only a mile. The historic trail heads from the Tavern going north on the Wire Road it takes you past the position where Peter Osterhaus set up his batteries to defend the edge of the plateau that Elkhorn Tavern sits on. From there the trail goes down into a ravine where the tanyard foundation sits. This spot is only two miles from Missouri state line and it is where Sterling Price formed his men on his right for battle after executing Earl Van Dorn’s overly ambitious double envelopment plan. This plan was similar to Lyon’s at Wilson’s Creek but in Van Dorn’s case, the march was a winter march with almost no rations. The horrible road network had also not allowed the ammunition wagons to keep up with the army. I checked my watch, it was 4:30, I estimated I had walked a half a mile, so I only needed to walk the loop trail another half mile to get back to my car—no problem. The trail then takes you down the line of the MSG and over the area it advanced as it attacked Osterhaus and drove them toward the tavern. For those who have never been there but have been to King’s Mountain in South Carolina, that is what the slope and terrain made me think of as I climbed the hill back to the tavern. After twenty minutes, I was sure I had walked at least a mile through the dense forest and there was no indication or feeling that I was getting back to the Elkhorn Tavern. I also knew the trail was supposed to hook up with the historic Huntsville Road before it turned back to the Tavern, which sat at the junction of the historic Wire and Huntsville Roads. With 10 minutes to go until closing time, I proceeded to run the last 1.5 miles of the trail much of it up hill. At 5:10, I finally made it back to the tavern. A ranger was there in a Gator cart and she said, “Is that your red car?” I was real apologetic and said I had no idea the trail was three miles long. She smiled and said don’t worry about it; still it was an embarrassing and exhausting way to end the day. Last edited on Tue Oct 14th, 2008 09:55 pm by David White |
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| Posted: Tue Oct 14th, 2008 11:25 pm |
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48th Post |
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susansweet Member
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Just finished it JDC. I love Wilson Creek . I have had it to myself twice now. Thanks for the descriptions of it and Pea Ridge. I remember the Wire Road very well. I have also been to King's Mountain so know what you are talking about . Keep them coming . Susan
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| Posted: Wed Oct 15th, 2008 01:36 am |
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49th Post |
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Captain Crow Progressive Southerner 
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ahhh it's good to live smack dab in the heart of the trans-Mississippi. A note on the Cabin creek battlefield park, it is only a very small part of the actual battlefield and the markers are set so as to approximate the positions of the respective troops. The field to the west of the park is closer to the actual site(that covered about 2 miles) but is privately owned. At the time of the battle there was a wooden stockade as well as a plantation house in the previously mentioned field, neither of which have survived. Keep up the narrative...it's really cool to read about someone enjoying all the amazing, little known, historical treasures that can be found in OK, MO, AR, and TX.
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| Posted: Wed Oct 15th, 2008 06:29 pm |
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50th Post |
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David White Member
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Day 4: Started early that day, because it was a 20 minute drive back to the park and I decided I wanted to see Curtis’ Sugar Creek defenses before heading to the primary park. It was raining as I got out of my vehicle at the site located on a portion of the still 19th Century looking Wire Road, i.e. dirt and gravel. As background, since I keep referring to the Wire Road, I thought I would explain its history. Most probably know why the road is called the Wire or Telegraph Road but for those who may not, the telegraph wires were strung along the road from Jefferson City to Ft. Smith, Arkansas. The road approximated a trail made by the Osage Indians before the white man’s arrival and ultimately parts of it were incorporated into the famous Route 66. The telegraph line evidently was never up on poles but the wire was wrapped around bushes, stakes and trees. The Butterfield Stage line used the Wire Road as the beginning of its transcontinental stage route. Just before the war from 1857 to 1861; a person, if they timed it right, could travel from Jefferson City, MO to Los Angeles or San Diego, California (approximately 2800 miles) in 25 days. The Sugar Creek Defense line is part of the Pea Ridge Park but is not part of the official tour, it should be. Nothing explains better than this site the whys and hows that caused the Pea Ridge Campaign to develop. It is south of the park Visitor’s Center by about 4 miles and one must cross Highway 60 and head down the gravel Wire Road to get to it. The bleak day made it easy to think about the Federal troops who hastily dug a trench line on the crest of the embankment overlooking Sugar Creek, on several cold winter’s days in early March 1862. The site is quite picturesque with the beautiful creek flowing through a gorge with high embankments on either side of the creek. No one in their right mind would attack down that gorge and up the other side against dug in forces. If I had to compare this site to another one on another Civil War park, it would be like attacking at Stedman’s Approach at Vicksburg except the slope is a slippery rocky face. No wonder Van Dorn was planning such an audacious envelopment and why Curtis was contentedly facing south waiting for the Confederates arrival at his impregnable position. It is quite a climb to the top of the bluff overlooking Sugar Creek but there is ample evidence of the quickly dug entrenchments still there. After twenty minutes here, the Visitor Center was opening up, so I drove up the original Wire Road to the park. The Visitor Center movie is like the Wilson’s Creek one, an updated and excellent film. The truly wonderful things they have in the Visitor’s Center are Andy Thomas’ paintings of the Trans-Mississippi battles including all of his Pea Ridge scenes. I’ve seen his paintings on the back of Civil War magazines and always thought they were pretty good but those pictures don’t do the full sized paintings justice, they really are very good. When I actually viewed the battlefield, the NPS has incorporated the paintings into their interpretive markers at the sites where the Thomas’ scenes took place, an excellent and attractive concept. The hour I was in the Visitor’s Center it poured rain outside, but as I left, the skies were merely overcast. After my speedy trip through the tour road the day before, I had an idea of what was coming but I took it at the speed of my Harley friend from the day before and except for a local couple who were looking for sassafras and some fellow Texicans from Fort Worth, I had the place to myself. The first two stops are the supply and command centers for the Federal army. Pratt’s Store, Curtis’ headquarters is the first. My tour book indicated that the real site is unknown but that it was in the vicinity, probably off the park land and in the middle of Highway 60. There is a stone foundation at the site, implying it is Pratt’s Store, but nothing identifying it as that. I wondered why it was there, if it is not historic. The site interprets Curtis’ utter surprise that the Confederates were in his rear. History seems to give Curtis a pass on this surprise and I wondered why his cavalry was not engaged more properly to keep him from being surprised. But the mistakes of the victor seem to get overlooked for the most part. The second site, is the town of Leetown; it is half mile hike to the site. The NPS is clearing the site of trees and fencing off the area of the town but supposedly the only thing remaining is a gravestone of a child, I looked for it but it is off in the thick woods beyond the NPS fencing, so I was unable to find it. The town was the Federal supply depot and the site of most of the hospitals after the battle. The tour then takes you in reverse chronological order to the sites of what the park refers to as the Leetown Battlefield. It was on these fields that it dawned on me what Van Dorn should have done. As terrain background, recall Van Dorn’s intention was to take his army all the way around the Federal Army and get on Curtis rear on the Wire Road in the vicinity of Elkhorn Tavern. But the army was famished, having difficulties moving on the rough roads that weren’t the Wire Road and the ammunition wagons were not keeping up. In fact, his army was stringing out due to all of the above conditions. Price’s MSG led the way and McCullough’s Division was behind. The head of Price’s men were approaching the jump off point, but McCullough’s Division was still miles behind. So Van Dorn modified the plan on the fly and had McCullough advance to the battlefield via the Ford Road. This split his forces and caused the imposing Elkhorn or Pea Ridge to separate his two divisions. The original plan was way too ambitious and the modification violated several principles of warfare including mass, unity of command and simplicity. All Van Dorn had going for him now was the principle of surprise and as the Civil War showed time and time again, that principle, while very effective, is fleeting. I came to the conclusion that what Van Dorn should have done was send his entire army in mass down the Ford Road. The march is shorter and eventually enfiladed the rear of Curtis’ Army, after rampaging through Curtis' command and supply area. A much more simple and effective attack, than coming down on Curtis’ rear from the Elkhorn Tavern. So with that strategy interlude, back to the tour, the third stop takes you to the final battles of the so-called Leetown battlefield. The stop is at the Federal side of the final line. As you look toward the Confederate lines, on the left is Oberson’s Field and to the right is Morgan’s Woods. Beyond the Oberson’s Field is the wood lot where McCullough and McIntosh were killed by skirmishers within a few minutes of each other. My tour book indicated the exact sites are unknown, although at one time the site of McCullough’s death was known, until someone destroyed the marker on the site years ago. The tour book indicated McCullough was probably killed off the park land and across highway 72 that goes nearby. I noted with irony that McCullough had had a 26 year and one day reprieve from the death he almost had at the Alamo. The death of McCullough and McIntosh practically ended the fighting of the Leetown battle as the succeeding leadership apparently exerted none afterwards. For the most part, McCullough’s Division remained inert with the exception of Hebert’s Arkansans and Louisianans that ended the fighting on this part of the battlefield in the thick Morgan’s Woods. McCullough was less than half a mile from the Federal supply depot when his attack stalled. A trail takes you back into Morgan’s Woods and one may see how far Hebert got and it explains how he and his staff were almost captured in the melee in the woods that puts one easily in mind of the Wilderness in Virginia. The next stop is where the Leetown Battle began, where the Ford Road crossed between a feature call Round Top (sort of looks like the famous one too) and Pea Ridge. Here on the other side of the woods, where McCullough was killed, sat the Foster Farm. It was across the fields of this farm that McCullough cut loose his Texas and Indian Cavalry forces to drive the Federals from their initial positions around farm. It was in this charge that my Great-Great Uncle probably saw the elephant for the first time and I had to wonder if he was a witness to what many call the first atrocity of the Civil War; the scalping of dead and wounded Federals lying near the Foster home. While at this stop, the sun came out and all hints of rain were gone for the rest of my Pea Ridge stay. The next two stops are associated with Elkhorn Ridge or Mountain or Pea Ridge depending on which name you prefer. The first stop has an excellent view of the very rough Boston Mountains in the distance, through which Van Dorn advanced to the battlefield. Later that day I drove them and it is tough going in a 21st century vehicle through the winding mountain roads, let alone on foot or with mule drawn wagons. The stop on Pea Ridge itself is the east overlook and what a view it is. From a covered pavilion the wind just whipped up the Ridge and must have been blowing nearly 40 mph, it made it tough to read my tour book that described the Federal bombardment of the ridge on the second day of the battle. The only troops occupying this magnificent high ground were the men in Stand Waite’s Indian regiment. The Federal artillery played hell with them too. From this vantage point one could see the entire battlefield, McCullough’s positions near the Ford Road, Round Top and the Wire Road. You could not see Elkhorn Tavern and the Huntsville Road but on the second day of the battle the Federals were not there, but rather in full view of this splendid position. I’m sure Van Dorn and his men were exhausted after the first day but if he had gotten just a battery of artillery up here and more of his men, Curtis and his men would have been in for a rough March 8. The next stop was Elkhorn Tavern which I had seen the previous day but since I ran the last 1.5 miles of the historic trail, I decided to walk back to the point where the trail met the Huntsville Road so I could read and see the things I ran past the night before. Where the trail meets the Huntsville Road is where Pap Price’s left pushed down the road on top of the plateau toward the tavern. Price’s men pushed the Federals back to the tavern through the Clemens’ Farm. It was in the fields of their farm that Pap Price was shot in the arm. The foundation of the farm is still there and the experiences of the family are described. Price outflanked the Federals in the woods on the edge of the Clemens’ Field by attacking their left, going around the farmhouse. This turned the Federal postion and forced them back to the tavern at the junction of the Wire and Huntsville Roads. Across the tour road from the tavern are the only three monuments on the battlefield. All three were placed by the respective side’s veterans organizations. The third and final monument was the most impressive and is a reconciliation monument put up jointly by the GAR and CVs. The next stop is a half a mile down the Wire Road form the tavern and it is where the first day ended and the second day began for the Confederates. On the left side of the tour road is described how the MSG’s attack was stymied in the near dark by Federal artillery as they charged into the open field there. The loads of double canister ended the day's fighting. The Federal artillery withdrew in the dark and the MSG occupied the woodlot they vacated. The next day, an artillery barrage under the supervision of Franz Sigel pounded the Confederate line here until a general Federal advance followed two hours later and accompanied by a general Confederate retreat. If you go here, don’t just stay by the road, walk west to the end of the fence line as a minimum. As you reach the end of the fence, look hard right and you will see Pea Ridge and what a formidable position it would have been had Van Dorn occupied it in force. To the left front you will see a small knoll in the middle of the Cox Farm field called Welfley’s Knoll. It was from this knoll that most of the Federal artillery massed for the second day bombardment of the Confederate lines. I wish I had time to walk the quarter of a mile plus to the knoll, but I was running out of time. The final stop is close to Wefley Knoll but still a ways from it and discusses the role of the Federal artillery and in particular the story of Franz Sigel that day. Turns out it was probably his most triumphant day of the war and also his most embarrassing. He oversaw the placement and firing of artillery but at some point in the attack toward Elkhorn Tavern on the second day, when victory was already won, he heard a rumor that the army was surrounded again and he galloped past the tavern north on the Wire Road to try and evade capture. Curtis finally had to send someone to stop him and bring him back to the victorious army near Elkhorn Tavern. Next stop was Prairie Grove, as I drove through the Boston Mountains the rains really cut loose. It was still pouring rain as I pulled into the parking lot at the museum at Prairie Grove. Much of the battlefield is now taken over by the town of the same name, but much of the field on the Confederate right was preserved by the Confederate Veterans. not necessarily because of the battleground, but as a reunion ground. This park is operated by the state of Arkansas and I must say they have done a very good job. The museum is pretty simple with a dated but adequate introductory film. The lone lady running the museum is very friendly and helpful. Due to the now wet conditions and based on the fact my tour book told me I would not miss anything of historical significance, I reluctantly declined to do the one mile walking tour of the eastern battlefield. Now I will take this opportunity to provide my critique of the audio tours offered by Wilson’s Creek, Pea Ridge and Prairie Grove. At the two National Parks, the CD is offered for sale in the gift shops for a standardly high price of $15. The Wilson’s Creek one is 45 minutes and is pretty good. It talks to you more than just at the tour stops but does tell you to shut it off at times. It has some first hand accounts of the battle too. The Pea Ridge audio is the same $15 but is only 30 minutes long and except for one of two places only speaks to events at the tour stops, so you shut it off until you get to the tour stop. About 10 minutes of that CD is talk of flora and fauna. Now I’m not opposed to flora and fauna but that is not why I got the tour audio. So in reality you only get 20 minute of Civil War talk and no first hand accounts. Now to describe the best $4 I spent on the trip. The Prairie Grove audio is nearly an hour long and will play continuously on your auto tour and syncs up nicely if you drive the speed limit, if they don’t have anything to say, they play nice homespun music in the style of Bobby Horton. It is chock full of eyewitness accounts too. During one large gap between two tour stops, they play the Prairie Grove song from Cathy Barton and Dave Para’s two CDs on the music of the trans-Mississippi Civil War (these two albums were also the soundtrack for my trip and are great CDs if you don’t have them). Since they talked over the intro of the song, they even had a final track of the entire song unblemished by talking. If you go to Prairie Grove, definitely get their audio, Wilson’ Creek you might get too, but skip Pea Ridge-- just my opinion. The driving tour is a 14 stop tour, other than numbered signs, the park is not really interpreted with much signage, which makes the audio tour that much more important as the brochure is adequate and well-written but lacking in the details we Civil War aficionados crave. The first stop is across the street from the museum. This marks the center of the Confederate defensive positions on a very commanding ridge that overlooks, yet again, the Wire Road and the open fields it traversed. The position was selected by General Francis Shoup. To set the scene for the battle, Thomas Hindman the overall Confederate commander was trying to destroy the Federal forces in detail, starting with Herron’s Division coming from Fayetteville and then he planned to turn on Blunt’s Division to the west near Rhea’s Mill. So with those objectives, it’s a mystery why he took a defensive posture and waited for Herron, but Herron obliged. The first stop includes several monuments put up by the veterans when this was a reunion grounds, so it is not so relative to the battle. Also at the stop are several Civil War buildings that were moved to the park to preserve them, including the Morrow House which had been moved from several miles south of the park but it was important to the Prairie Grove and Pea Ridge Campaigns. The left front room of the house served as Hindman’s and Price’s and Van Dorn’s headquarters just days before their respective campaigns. Later that evening I drove passed the original site for the home again located on an origianl part of the Wire Road. The walking tour of the east battlefield begins here also. The primary landmark on the east battlefield is the Borden House and orchard, which are both well-preserved. The fighting here is depicted in yet another one of Andy Thomas’ great paintings and is easily the place where most of the casualties occurred, in Arkansas’ bloodiest battle. Herron made two separate assaults on the ridge, attacking into the yard of the Borden House and its bloody apple orchard. On the far Confederate right along the fence of the orchard, the cavalry of my personal hero, Jo Shelby, helped drive the Federals back, along with Quantrill’s band fighting, for probably there only time, as regular troops (although Quantrill was not with them at this battle). The tour moves down the ridge into the Borden cornfield where the Union attacks originated and where the first casualties fell. From there, it goes to the far right of Herron’s position. As Herron’s men lost the initiative and began preparing to face Confederate counterattacks at this place down the ridge from the museum, Blunt’s Division signaled its arrival on the battlefield, by firing artillery at the Confederate’s on the ridge. The last four stops of the tour are in the town itself. They take you to an overlook where you may see the field where the Confederates attacked the arriving Blunt but were repulsed and where Blunt set up his artillery to bombard the Confederate defenses. It also goes to the Morton House site; the extreme left of the Confederate line, and the Prairie Grove Baptist Church, where Hindman had his HQ and that served as a hospital after the battle. The current church was built after the war and the original log structure is gone. The rain was still pouring down as I headed off to Ft. Smith, Arkansas. For the last two nights of my trip, I decided to live it up at a very nice Bed and Breakfast in Ft. Smith called Beland Manor. To be Continued… Last edited on Wed Oct 15th, 2008 07:00 pm by David White |
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| Posted: Thu Oct 16th, 2008 01:44 am |
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51st Post |
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susansweet Member
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David I am lovin it. What are the names of the tour books you were using ? Sounds like good ones. Talking about music do you know the son Ben McCulloch by Steve Earle? Susan
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| Posted: Thu Oct 16th, 2008 03:36 pm |
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52nd Post |
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David White Member
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Just one: Hess, Piston, Shea and Hatcher’s tour book "Wilson's Creek, Pea Ridge, and Prairie Grove: A Battlefield Guide, with a Section on Wire Road." Piston came to our CWRT last year and is quite a good speaker. We've also had Shea too and of course he wrote the book on Pea Ridge. I think Piston wrote the WC section of the tour book, Shea PR and Hatcher PG. Not sure what Hess did, maybe overall putting it together. They each put the tours together with their own style, so they're are differences in how the tours work and are numbered. I actually like the way Piston did WC over the other two, it's almost like he tries to tell you what happened at spots other than the tour stops. If not for his tour telling me where to stop, so I could walk through the Ray Cornfield over Plummer's advance I probably wouldn't have done that. I have that Earle song on my iPod, I think he's too rough on old Ben. I actually respect what he did during the war other than his Stonewall Jackson like refusal to share his plans with his subordinates and doing his own reconnaisance, he seems to have acquitted himself well during his short time in the war. I did pick up Cutrer's biography of him at Pea Ridge, so we'll see what he has to say, some day. Afraid I will have to take a break from my saga today, work has presented some emergencies and tonight is CWRT and my speaker is stuck in Nashville.
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| Posted: Thu Oct 16th, 2008 05:33 pm |
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53rd Post |
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susansweet Member
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David thanks for the information . The song is on my ipod too . One of these days I will will have to get that biography of old Ben. Lucky for me my speaker for this month told me he was baling early enough for me to get a new speaker. My worst fear my speakers won't show up. Orange County Round Table meets next Tuesday night. Susan
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| Posted: Mon Oct 20th, 2008 08:43 pm |
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54th Post |
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David White Member
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Day 5: Today was my one day break from the Civil War and an occasion for Déjà vu twice in one day. Most of the attractions I wanted to see in Ft. Smith did not open until 10 a.m., so my first stop was determined for me. It was the boyhood home of General William O. Darby the man, who started, or if you prefer, resurrected the U.S. Army Rangers. The front yard of the modest little house in the Belle Grove Historic House district of Ft. Smith, was a memorial to the rangers. The unit tabs of every ranger battalion was etched into the sidewalk in front of the house and little marble stones leading to the front porch had important engagements of the rangers from World War II until the present. A memorial stone also sat in the middle of the yard to Darby himself. I was knocking at the door promptly at 8 a.m. but the place looked closed despite a sign that indicated it should be opened. I knocked several times and peered through the front door window and it only looked like there were night lights on and the only living thing that seemed to respond to my knocks was a black and white Persian that walked down the main hall to see who was there. I left and walked around the block to where I parked my car (there was no parking on General Darby Street). I called the phone number for the house, but only got an answering machine. I left a message indicating I was only in town for the day and if they did open up, please call me as I wished to see the house. My next stop, Miss Laura’s, which was the former high class house of ill repute in town, did not open until 9 a.m. So I read from my new biography of Ben McCullough for 30 minutes and then drove to the river front. Across the street from Miss Laura’s (which doubles as the Chamber of Commerce today) There is a park by the river, so I went to it to observe the wide Arkansas River and watch some turtles in the river for a few minutes. As I drove to the parking lot to Miss Laura’s at opening time, I forgot that what I had been driving on was a one way street. So, I made a left turn into Miss Laura’s from the right lane. The poor lady that was just behind me in the left lane had to slam on her brakes to keep form hitting me. Boy did I feel like a dope. Miss Laura’s was much better than I expected it to be. A cute little grandmother gave me a personal tour along with frank talk about Victorian sexual mores in the skin trade. Duncan will appreciate that the business model for Miss Laura’s was identical to Miss Hattie in San Angelo (but no tunnel from the bank like Miss Hattie). The house operated for 45 years from about 1880 to 1925. It is the only remaining building in what used to be a row of five houses of ill repute on Ft. Smith’s water front, each with a varying class and clientele. Miss Laura’s was abandoned a few years later when the Madame died just before World War II. After World War II, they moved the house about 300 feet due to a need to locate the railroad tracks on the original site of the house. When they moved it, they recovered many interesting artifacts. Of note, were some drawings possibly made by one of the girls who actually had a legitimate talent too. There were several medical clearance forms from the local doctor who had examined the girls for STDs. Numerous bible tracts were also found; were the girls feeling guilty or was the basement a dumping ground for what they considered trash? But the most interesting item was the photo album of one of the girl’s form the time just before the house was shut down. The pictures were exclusively young flapper girls, no men included, smiling and having fun together. Some were risqué with them flashing legs and garters or skinny dipping, so my guess is they were all former working girls. If they were, just based on looks, Miss Laura’s must have been a successful enterprise. My guide made sure to tell me about the Belle Starr connection to Miss Laura’s. Outside of “Hanging Judge” Isaac Parker and General Darby, Belle is the next biggest historic celebrity of Ft. Smith. Now I must confess that Belle is a distant cousin of mine, as there is Shirley blood in my line and Belle’s full name at birth was Myra Belle Shirley. Belle as we all know was the “Queen of the Bandits.” But when she gave birth to her first child, Pearl Reed, she determined early that she did not want her child to be involved in the criminal life, so she sent her east to boarding schools to bring her up right. But when Pearl returned from the east and her mom was murdered, she changed her last name to Starr and began working at Miss Laura’s. Eventually she opened up a house of her own, two doors down that was the only house of ill-repute to try to compete with Miss Laura’s clientele. Pearl’s house had a big wooden star carved into the facade above the door and the star was lit up with a red lantern behind it. When I got back to my car there was a message on my phone from the gentleman at the Darby House telling me he was there. So I drove back. When I got back to the house, I was greeted at the door by the Persian I saw earlier and the President of the Darby Foundation, “Bob.” He ushered me into the house past the little museum in the front left room and back into his office behind the museum. I soon found out that the cat is a dog trapped in a cat’s body. He loved having his belly rubbed and actually did tricks. Whenever Bob “shot” him with his finger, he would roll over and play dead. Above Bob’s desk was a gaping hole in the sheetrock of the ceiling. Last April, every roof in Ft. Smith was damaged by a hail storm. All over town were signs of roofing companies fixing roofs. My bed and breakfast had their roof replaced, as did Miss Laura’s (it was the second roof in the last 10 years for that house as previously the entire roof, literally the entire roof, was ripped off in a tornado). So too, the Darby House needed a new roof. But the roofers had not done a good job, as the roof in the family room and Bob’s office leaked. About two months ago Bob first noted it in his office as the sheetrock where the now gaping hole to the attic was visible, first became wet from the rains. One morning, about two weeks after noticing the wet spot, Bob came into the office and there was the big hole in the ceiling and everything on his desk was knocked over and in disarray. Bob just thought the cat had gotten up in the attic and stepped on the wet spot and it gave way and he fell on the desk and panicked. But after the next night, he came in and things in the museum room were knocked over and scattered about. Bob knew he had some sort of unwelcome visitor. He called animal control and they looked around but could not find anything. A few nights later, things in the back room were scattered about and knocked over. Another call to animal control and this time they found behind the kitchen door, the possum responsible for all the mess and took him away. For the next four hours, long after I intended to leave, I was still there. Part of my stay was due to my interest and part due to Bob’s lack of visitors, if I surmise correctly. Bob is a retired AF guy too, so we swapped war stories for much of that time. He said my career was more impressive than his but that is BS just for what he did during his tour in Vietnam. He had many interesting stories involving crashes, blue panties and Bill Clinton than I have time to relate here. Every time I’d get up to go, he’d say let me show you this and he’d proceed to bring out some other memento from World War II like the note signed by Patton, asking a subordinate to help Darby find men for the rangers; Darby’s wife’s scrap book; the photo album and overseas locker with gear of a Ft. Smith resident who flew P-51s and P-47s in World War II. If it was not a memento, it was a Darby story, believe me I can tell you the dirt on the whole Darby clan now. Visitors are normally only allowed in the hall, the museum and he living room. The hall is a memorial area where rangers leave their berets in honor of Darby. The museum contains memento and artifacts that belonged to Darby and his family. The living room is preserved with the family’s furniture that was in the room the day the family got the word that Darby died in Italy. The calendar on the wall even says May 1, 1945, the date German artillery fire killed him as the assistant division commander of the 10th Mountain Division. From the Darby House, I went to the Ft. Smith Historic Site. I spent about 2.5 hours here viewing the history of the site. It started as a frontier outpost on the Arkansas River in 1817. The original fort is outlined in concrete as are the limits of the second fort about 200 yards further inland. The second fort was one of the only frontier forts with a masonry wall around it but it is all gone now as people took the bricks to build the town. The first major operation of the fort was to serve as the end of the waterborne Trail of Tears. After that they had to preserve the peace between the imported Cherokee and the Osage who had always lived in the eastern Indian Territory. Soon afterward, other forts like Ft. Gibson, Towson and Arbuckle became the operational forts replacing Ft. Smith and it instead became the supply depot that supported those forts. When that happened, the original fort by the river disappeared and the more permanent buildings were erected for the second fort. Several still exist today. After the Civil War, the barracks building became the jail, prison and courtroom of Judge Isaac Parker. Parker was the only judge with jurisdiction in the Indian Territory and his team of marshals were the only ones who could arrest fugitives or Indian offenders from the Indian Territory. Actually, this part of Ft. Smith’s history gets some pretty good historical coverage, for Hollywood standards, in a couple of novels and films—think True Grit and Hang ‘em High. In fact some of the dialogue of the people hanged in the latter movie is taken directly from the historical record and last words of men hanged at Ft. Smith. The Visitor Center in the old barracks building has a nice film that covers the Indian, military, outlaw and legal history of Ft. Smith. In the north end of the barrack’s first floor they have recreated the jail area, which looks like an old dungeon as it is dark and partially underground. The second floor on the south side is the prison with a few of the iron cells visible. Most of these describe the outlaws that operated in the Indian Territory the Starrs, the Love Brothers, the Daltons, Ned Christie and Cherokee Bill. Cherokee Bill sounds like an interesting character and I almost picked up his biography, but reluctantly did not get it. There is a huge picture of Bill at the top of the stairs in the barracks taken shortly after his capture by a marshal. OId Bill has a big smile on his face as he has his arm around the marshal who captured him (reminded me of the more famous photo of John Dillinger with his captors). Bill admitted he was reaching for the marshal’s gun but due to the marshal’s long duster he was not able to reach it. That did not stop Bill. He had a gun smuggled into him and attempted a breakout from the prison floor killing a guard Larry Keating with two shots. A bullet he probably fired is one of the artifacts recovered when the building was renovated by the NPS. Bill was hanged on St. Patrick’s Day and thousands came to witness the event, including his mother. Bill supposedly whistled on the way to the gallows saying, "This is about as good a day to die as any." When he saw his mom he said, “Mother, you ought not to have come up here." She replied, "I can go wherever you go." His last words to the crowd gathered there was, “"Good-bye, all you chums down that way." After his death, many people noted the significance of the unlucky number 13 in Bill's life. A $1300 reward was offered for his capture; his first death sentence was pronounced on April 13; he killed Larry Keating the jailer on July 26 (two times thirteen); Judge Parker took 13 minutes to charge the jury in the Keating case; the actual hours used in the trial numbered 13; there were 13 witnesses for the prosecution; the jury took 13 minutes to find him guilty; and he fell though the trap of the gallows at 2:13 p.m. Also in the old prison area they had some artifacts from Cousin Belle and the other Starrs. The middle room on the second floor chronicles the Trail of Tears and the fighting between the Osage and Cherokee. It also has some military displays. The third and most northern room is the recreation of Judge Parker’s courtroom and chronicles his career. The walking tour takes you throughout the post including the site of the guard house where Cousin Belle and other women prisoners were housed. Cousin Belle’s only stayed there a few weeks, before she was convicted and shipped to a Detroit Prison by Judge Parker for horse thievery. It was the only time she would serve time for any of her crimes. The last thing I visited at the NPS site was the reconstructed gallows on the original gallows site. One neat things the park service does there is to have a ranger talk based on eye-witness accounts of the 65 hangings Judge Parker ordered in Ft. Smith. These talks are given on any anniversary of a hanging, unfortunately, no one was hanged on the date I was there. From the National Park I went to the Ft. Smith history museum next door. It has a few gems. There is a huge display on Ft. Chaffee, a room on General Darby, many Civil War items and some terrific photographs of local events. One thing that caught my attention was someone who must have been the town comedienne. He dressed like a bum and rode a tiny donkey in just about every parade between 1880 and 1920. This museum also had Judge Parker’s real court room chair and Belle Starr’s side saddle that she is sitting on in her most famous photograph. My first moment of déjà vu was to see in that museum across form the side saddle, my exact bicycle from my youth. Mine was stolen at college (although this one in the museum was in near pristine condition, mine was not). It was a green five speed Schwinn with a metal sidesaddle basket. I can remember I did not want that basket but my mom insisted I have it so I could ride to the grocery store and buy things for her if she unexpectedly needed something or ran out of something like carrots for making her spicy Irish Stew. My second moment of Déjà vu was when I ate at the Calico County Restaurant and ordered their Irish Stew, which tasted exactly like my mom’s. Here is the food critic portion of my narrative. I ate at this restaurant both nights, the food is outstanding and as an appetizer every patron gets one of their “famous” cinnamon roll. The food was so good after my first night; I went back the next night, even thought the service was about the worst I have experienced in years. It is run by a little old grandmother and her servers are young teenage kids that are too busy flirting with each other than to take care of the customers. But the food was so good I overlooked the horrible service and went back for the great Irish Stew. The food was heaven, the service was hell. Although I ended this day earlier than any of the others, I was more tired. Standing in museums is much tougher and tiring than walking miles on a battlefield. I returned to my great little Bed and Breakfast, Beland Manor, for one last night. Last installment to come… Last edited on Mon Oct 20th, 2008 09:15 pm by David White |
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| You have chosen to ignore JDC Duncan. click Here to view this post |
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| Posted: Tue Oct 28th, 2008 12:30 am |
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56th Post |
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Captain Crow Progressive Southerner
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so is this a cliffhanger?
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| Posted: Tue Oct 28th, 2008 07:11 pm |
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57th Post |
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David White Member
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Naw, guess I ought to finish it, shouldn't I? Last edited on Tue Oct 28th, 2008 07:15 pm by David White |
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| Posted: Tue Oct 28th, 2008 07:14 pm |
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58th Post |
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David White Member
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Day 6: My day started out with a reminder of home as my terrific hosts at the Beland Manor prepared for my final breakfast there an eggs and salsa dish. After a high five from my new friend, the hosts’ 5 year old grandson (“We’ve known each other a long time,” he had told me the night before), I set out for my last stops and home. Unfortunately Ft. Gibson did not open until 10 a.m., so the day would involve some backtracking in order to maximize my time at sites and get me home at a reasonable hour. I arrived at the Honey Springs Battlefield as it opened; you know you are close when the black top ends and the gravel road begins. As you drive to the visitor’s center, which is located just behind the Confederate battle line, you are driving past the last two stops on the tour. This battlefield and Ft. Gibson are both maintained by the Oklahoma Historical Society and as I would find out from the staff at both locations, this allows the state of Oklahoma to give the big budget to tourism and send a few pennies to the society to help preserve these historic sites. For operating on a shoestring budget of donations and some government funding, these places do a terrific job. This low budget, however makes the visitor’s center at Honey Springs just a little more permanent than a Mobilehoma (you know we Texans have to get our jabs in at the land thieves  ).The center has a very nice film that orients you to the strategic situation and the battle itself. A diorama created by a local high school does a nice job of portraying the climax of the battle as the Confederate forces retreat toward the one bridge across Elk Creek with the Federals in pursuit. There are a few pamphlets and items in the gift area but not much. The staff is very knowledgeable and helpful but there is no map or brochure of the battlefield which is unfortunate. Nonetheless, the battlefield is pretty simple and a map and brochure would just have been nice and not an absolute necessity. The battle is divided into six stops with interpretive trails of half a mile or less at each stop. There is an optional mile trail at the Confederate battle line that I highly encourage as mandatory to understand the tactical blunder the Confederate commander Douglas Cooper made at this battle. Honey Springs is a beautiful area with an interesting history. The battle was fought exactly two weeks after Pickett’s Charge and is lost to history in many ways, due to the other momentous events that happened that month. The battle was brought on by the Union commander General James Blunt as a spoiling attack. Blunt had been alarmed by the events at the First Battle of Cabin Creek and the intelligence and panic of the commander at Ft Gibson (renamed Blunt during the war in the overall commander’s honor), Col. William Phillips. Phillips had sent panicked reports to Blunt saying Confederate forces were marshalling at Honey Springs for a planned offensive to retake Ft. Gibson and northeast Indian Territory. Blunt moved forward with some reinforcements form his headquarters at Ft. Scott, KS and quickly restored calm to the area. Although outnumbers 2-1, Blunt decided to attack before he was attacked. His intelligence informed him more troops were joining Cooper and would soon outnumber his force 3-1. At midnight on July 15, Blunt left Ft. Gibson with his 3,000 men. Despite rainy weather and Confederate skirmishers, Blunt’s force moved the 27 miles to the battlefield in nine hours. The first stop on the tour takes you to the area where Blunt arrived at 8 a.m. on the 17th and his men bivouacked for two hours eating and sleeping before commencing the action. The interpretive trail takes you through the area. Several signs describe the history prior to the battle of all of Blunt’s regiments and batteries and about the archeology that was conducted to find the bivouac site. The content of these signs is outstanding throughout the park but I have two criticisms about the signs overall. First, the fiberglass signs are not holding up very well and are weathering in the sun and cracking, I’m sure that has a little to do with the budget the historic society has but higher quality signs like the National Park Service has at Pea Ridge would be better in the long run as they will hold up better. A second criticism is one the society has no excuse for, black letters on a brown background are nearly impossible to read (this was not the case for most of the signs but it is true for too many of them). The second stop is the location of the initial Federal battle line. From this position for one hour and 15 minutes (10 a.m. to 11:15) the 6 Napoleons, 2 six pounders and four 12 pound mountain howitzers that composed Blunt’s artillery bombarded the Confederate initial battle line less than 500 yards away. There is a gentle slope from this position down to the Confederate position some 200 yards north of Elk Creek and its steep banks. Modern foliage obstructs the view that Blunt’s and Cooper’s men had of each other. The third stop takes you to the stand of trees where the Confederate forces initially stood. As was done at the first stop, much of the signage describes the regiments and batteries in the Confederate forces. After reading about both little armies it could safely be argued that this was the battle of the two most diverse armies in the war. The Federals consisted of a colored Kansas regiment, Indian Home Guards and white Kansas troops. The Confederates of Texans and Indian troops from the Choctaw and Creek nations. Of particular interest here was the lone Confederate Texas artillery battery at the battle, commanded by Capt. Roswell Lee. It was a mountain battery, meaning there were no caissons and the pieces were disassembled and transported by mule. Like Blunt’s mountain battery, it had three 12 pound smoothbore Howitzers but it also had the only rifled piece on the battlefield. This piece was an extremely rare two and one quarter inch Confederate Mountain Rifle that had been manufactured at the Tredegar Iron Works in Richmond. The Confederates successfully used this piece during the bombardment phase in a sniper mode to kill some of the officers of the opposing artillery batteries and staff officers scouting the Confederate positions. During the bombardment phase the Federals lost a Napoleon and the Confederates one of their Howitzers. At 11:15, Blunt’s forces attacked and with two assaults over the next two hours, the sides ended up grappling hand to hand in the trees here before the Confederates broke and retreated pell mell for the lone bridge across the steep banks of Elk Creek. Another interesting thing to see here is about an eighth of a mile of the original Texas Road, which Blunt had used to reach the battlefield from Ft. Gibson. The optional trail at stop three is one mile round trip, which all true Civil War aficionados must take. The trail takes you by the ruins of the birth home of a modern Native-American artist who frankly I have never heard of. It is half way to the end of this trail, which terminates on a bluff above the banks of Elk Creek. On this bluff was the right flank of the Confederate army. Cooper placed his Texans in the center and his two Indian regiments on the flanks because he did not trust their quality over the Texans. As the Texans began their panicked retreat for the bridge, the Indian forces moved in to cover the retreat briefly before they were taken up in the panic also. It is on this bluff that the visitor will learn unequivocally that Cooper was an idiot and only had his position because he was a friend of Jefferson Davis (Cooper had served as one of Davis’ company commanders in the Mexican War). From here, one is able to see the beautiful high ground on the south side of Elk Creek, from that position Cooper’s men could have played hell on Blunt’s inferior numbers if he had foolishly chosen to attack this position across the creek. The devastation Cooper’s men could have inflicted on Blunt’s men from this ridge as the Federals funneled into the lone bridge across the creek under fire would have made this an easy Confederate victory in a small Trans-Mississippi Fredericksburg-like event. Stop 4 takes you to the actual location of the bridge and the campsites of the Confederates on the morning when the Union forces appeared. The bridge washed away soon after the war and the owner rebuilt another toll structure of wood, brick and concrete. The bank supports of the second bridge is all that remains of any bridge at this location. The signs here talk of archeology at the Confederate campsites and of the panic that occurred for the Confederates at this site and the struggle for the bridge. Stop 5 is next to a modern cemetery and describes the final stand of the Confederate forces on the ridge seen form the optional trail. Here the Confederate Cavalry and Indian troops launched a counterattack to allow the artillery and some supplies time to escape. By 2 p.m. the battle was over. The signs here have some interesting first person accounts of the battle in letters home from both sides. Stop 6 is the location of the Confederate supply depot and of several monuments placed on the battle. As Captain Crow and I noted, there is an official welcoming committee on site for this month, consisting of two black and one brown Labrador Retriever puppies. A portion of the original Texas Road is also visible at this site. From there it was on to Ft. Gibson. Like Ft. Smith, Ft. Gibson was established as two different posts. The initial wood stockade in both cases was built close to the Arkansas River and than later the more permanent stone structures were built further up the hill. The Visitor’s Center is located in the old commissary building of the second fort. It has some very nice displays concentrating on the Trail of Tears, the conflict between the Cherokee and the Osage that led to the creation of the fort in 1824. The gift shop is a very small area but had some good books relative to the subject. There really is no full treatment history of the fort itself, so budding authors take note of the opportunity. A nice movie that looks like it was done by the same people who did the Honey Springs film, tells the story of the fort, its relationship to the Trail of Tears and other Indian history. The second fort existed at the time of the Civil War and was abandoned by Federal forces early in the war. Confederate cavalry regiments from Texas under Sul Ross trained at the fort (including my great-great uncle’s) before moving on to the Battle of Pea Ridge. Soon after that the Federals reoccupied the fort, renamed it Ft. Blunt and it became the spring board for recapturing the northern half of the Indian Territory by General Blunt. Several of the old stone and wooden buildings still exist of the second fort, including the hospital, the barracks, the bake house and the magazine. After the Federals reoccupied the fort, the Federal Indian Home Guard Brigade occupied the fort and they constructed breastworks around the perimeter of the second fort and those are still very visible today in the northwest and western boundary of the fort. This fort would remain active until it finally closed in 1890. The original fort site is down what is called Garrison Hill from the second fort about 200 yards. It was here I met and had a long conversation with the park historian, David. On the site is a two-thirds size replica of the wood fort built as a WPA project in the 1930s. This replica is now older than the fort it depicts. In places it is very termite eaten but is still in pretty good shape considering. The reason it is 2/3 the original size is the public road and Katy Railroad now occupy the land closer to the river. David had some great insights on the fort (the army began the effort to relocate the fort almost as soon as it was built, due to the bad mosquito problem next to the river), Honey Springs (Phillips was too much of an alarmist at Ft. Gibson) and James Blunt (it wasn’t encephalitis that kept him on the sideline at Honey Springs). David was also a Mexican War reenact or and had appeared in the new Alamo film. He said I had just missed a Civil War reenactment at Honey Springs and a Mexican War reenactment at Ft. Gibson. David said there is still much archeology at Ft. Gibson and other forts in the vicinity during the summers. They are still trying to understand the history of the place. I asked him if they knew where the Confederates trained but he said they really weren’t sure but he guessed it was on the hill just to the north of the second fort, as that is where all the cavalry artifacts had been found and where the US Cavalry had been when the war broke out. Today this area is a housing subdivision. The main east-west artery through the subdivision is called Cavalry Street. From here I headed home on a five hour drive. I stopped at the Happy Day’s Hotel in McAlister to eat an early supper at their 50s style diner, in order to avoid rush hour in Dallas. Traveling along Central Expressway through McKinney, Allen and Plano I did not recognize these areas I had lived in for a decade, 11 years ago; it had changed so much. Not until I got to Dallas did Central Expressway seem familiar, other than the crazy traffic that hasn’t changed at all. I got home at 10 p.m. and went right to bed; I had work the next day. The End Last edited on Tue Oct 28th, 2008 07:14 pm by David White |
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| Posted: Tue Oct 28th, 2008 10:51 pm |
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59th Post |
| Posted: Wed Oct 29th, 2008 03:17 pm |
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60th Post |
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David White Member
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Capt. Crow: The second link is the only one they sold at the gift shop and it is just a little pamphlet, not a full historical treatment of the subject.
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