The sound of war was heard and felt across the battlefield as hundreds honored the nearly 6,000 men who shed their blood at Pea Ridge during the Civil War.
Men and women transformed into Union and Confederate soldiers to re-enact the 151-year-old battle Saturday (March 23).
“It should always be remembered,” said Denis Cousley, who traveled from Northern Ireland to watch the re-enactment. “It should always be re-enacted forever long.”
This year, Helena received a 2012 Arkansas Heritage Tourism Henry Award . This award is presented annually to an individual, organization, or community that has made a significant contribution toward the preservation of some aspect of Arkansas’s natural, cultural or aesthetic legacy. The award was received for the Civil War Helena Tourism Initiative.
An exhibit on African American legislators, a bicycle tour of the Little Rock Campaign, lectures and exhibits are among the events the Arkansas Civil War Sesquicentennial Commission has sanctioned for March 2013, ACWSC Chairman Tom Dupree announced today. A complete listing of scheduled sesquicentennial activities, as well as additional information on the activities listed below, can be found at http://www.arkansascivilwar150.com/events/.
Among the Civil War sesquicentennial events during March are:
* “African American Legislators, 1868-1893,” an exhibit on Reconstruction-era lawmakers in Arkansas, will be on display in Room 101 of the Justice Building on the Capitol grounds March 4-29. Dr. Blake Wintory of Lakeport Plantation will give a free lecture on the subject on March 8; call (501) 682-6879 or emailrod.miller@arkansas.govfor more information.
* “Fought in Earnest: Civil War Arkansas,” the Arkansas History Commission’s traveling exhibit, will be on display at the Arkansas State University in Jonesboro March 5-21; call (870) 972-3354 or emaillcreibaum@astate.edufor more information.
* Camden Daffodil Festival, featuring Civil War re-enactors, will be held March 8-9 in Camden; call (870) 836-0245 or emailcfreeland@cablelynx.comfor more information.
* Sevier County Civil War Day, featuring re-enactments and dance lessons, will be held at the National Guard Armory in De Queen on March 9; call (870) 784-6189 orseviercountymuseum@yahoo.comfor more information.
* “Civil War Arkansas, 1861-1865,” the ACWSC traveling exhibit, will be on display at Washington County Historical Society in Fayetteville March 11-24; call (479) 521-2970 or emailinfo@washingtoncohistoricalsociety.orgfor more information.
* “Varina Davis, Southern Women and the Civil War,” a lecture by Joan E. Cashin, will be held at the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service in Little Rock on March 14; call (501) 683-5239 or emailpublicprograms@clintonschool.uasys.edufor more information.
* Reed’s Bridge Battlefield Preservation Society Historic Bicycle Tour, a riding tour of the Little Rock Campaign from Jacksonville to Lonoke, will be held March 16; call (501) 985-3670 or emailjbdan111@aol.comfor more information.
* Battle of Pea Ridge Re-Enactment and Seminar will be held in Bentonville March 22-24; call (479) 685-7777 or emailconfedvet@live.comfor more information.
* Civil War Round Table of Arkansas will feature Brian Brown speaking on the Vicksburg Campaign at Second Presbyterian Church in Little Rock on March 26; emailrmeadows@aaamissouri.comfor more information.
* Annual Meeting of the Faulkner County Historical Society will feature ACWSC member Mark Christ speaking on the Little Rock Campaign at the Faulkner County Library in Conway on March 28; call (501) 336-8389 or emailkennethb@uca.edufor additional information.
* Confederate Heritage/Flag/Memorial Day will be held at the Arkansas State Capitol on March 30; call (870) 926-2985 or emaildanny@honnoll.comfor more information.
For more information on these and other sesquicentennial events, visithttp://www.arkansascivilwar150.com/events/.
The Arkansas Civil War Sesquicentennial Commission is housed within the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program. The AHPP is the Department of Arkansas Heritage agency responsible for identifying, evaluating, registering and preserving the state’s cultural resources. Other agencies are the Arkansas Arts Council, the Delta Cultural Center in Helena, the Old State House Museum, the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center, the Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission and the Historic Arkansas Museum.
The site of one of the biggest Civil War battles west of the Mississippi doesn’t get the attention of places such as Gettysburg or Shiloh. But the battle fought at Pea Ridge, Ark., marked an important turning point early in the war, and today the national military park there makes a fascinating stop for any American-history buff visiting the Ozarks.
When more than 26,000 combined Union and Confederate troops clashed at Pea Ridge 150 years ago, the fate of Missouri and control of the upper Mississippi River was still very much in doubt.
The year 2011 marked the sesquicentennial of the Civil War. While several events are taking place across Arkansas there is a specific part of the
commemoration that runs through Greene County.
As many may have noticed there are Civil War Trail signs scattered across the county. These signs signify specific Civil War battles. All together there are eight battles in the state that have been designated to the trails.
The Arkansas Civil War Sesquicentennial Commission has added 20 new podcasts about the state’s Civil War history to its website, ACWSC Chairman Tom Dupree announced today.
The new podcasts were created in cooperation with the School of Mass Communication at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. The new offerings include:
The Old State House Museum hosts its second exhibit to commemorate the sesquicentennial of the Civil War from May 5, 2012, to February 1, 2013. The exhibit, Battle Colors of Arkansas, will help visitors understand Arkansas’s place in the American Civil War.
The Old State House Museum maintains a large collection of Arkansas-related Civil War artifacts, Blue and Gray. At the forefront is the museum’s collection of Civil War battle flags; these flags will command attention in the Battle Colors of Arkansas exhibit.
Not having the locations to detain or otherwise accommodate large numbers of captured troops early in the war, the U.S. and Confederate governments relied on the traditional European system of parole and exchange of prisoners. The French parole d’ honneur was a pledge or oath under which a prisoner of war (POW) was released with the understanding that he will not again bear arms until exchanged for an enemy captive of equal rank. Sometimes the parolees went home to await notice of their exchange; sometimes they waited near their commands until the paperwork was processed.
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