THREE RIVERS AREA — Boom! The earth shook again July 10-11 as cannons fired and echoed in Cooper Valley near Lunenburg. Not big enough to be called a battle, the action at Lunenburg during the Civil War was memorialized by the twoday re-enactment of the original Civil War skirmish that took place in the same valley.
Located five miles southeast of Melbourne today, Lunenburg was a bustling place during the Civil War, having several stores and Rocky Bayou Baptist Church. The post office was not established until 1868. Freight was hauled from Guion, on the White River, over a road that crossed Rocky Bayou Creek at least 20 times before reaching Lunenburg.
Melbourne was not established until 1875.
The combat at Lunenburg illustrated the true nature of the War Between the States - brother against brother. Most of the men involved in the Lunenburg skirmish - on both sides - were residents of Izard and Independence counties. Because of the nature of the war, neighbors and friends were on opposite sides.
Capt. Taylor A. Baxter was in command of 44 soldiers in the 4th Arkansas Mounted Infantry Volunteers, United States, when about 10 a.m. on Jan. 20, 1864, the battery rode up to Col.Thomas R. Freeman’s regiment, Missouri Cavalry, Confederate States of America, camped in Cooper Valley. The resulting hostilities left one Union man, Anderson A. Williams, dead; three Union men wounded; four Confederates seriously wounded; and two Confederates captured. The Union detail also gained horses and equipment captured after the rout of the opposing side.
Baxter was the brother of Elisha Baxter, who was elected governor of Arkansas after the war. Both men were residents of Batesville during the war, exceptfor when Elisha took his family to be refugees in Missouri.
The re-enactors camped at the restored Lunenburg WPA school building/community center beside the plaque commemorating the skirmish. The plaque was unveiled and dedicated May 16, 2010, by the Pvt. Job S. Neill Camp No. 286 and the Robert G. Shaver Camp No. 1655, both of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, and the 7th Arkansas Infantry. The plaque was jointly funded by the Arkansas Sesquicentennial Commission and the Izard County Historical and Genealogical Society.
The camp was open for tours from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday for visitors to observe a historically accurate rendition of a soldier’s daily life in camp between battles.
Supper for the soldiers was furnished by the Albert Sidney Johnston Chapter 135, United Daughters of the Confederacy, which has members in Batesville and Melbourne.
Dressed in their blue uniforms denoting the Union Army, re-enactors from Company I, 5th Kansas Redlegs Dismounted Cavalry, were actually men from Arkansas who also belong to the 7th Arkansas Infantry. The commanding officer was Capt. Louis Riggs; and the adjunct was Capt. John Malloy of Mountain View.
The remaining men participating in the re-creation of the original skirmish at Cooper Valley were members of the Private Job S. Neill Camp No. 286, Sons of Confederate Veterans, all from Arkansas, led by Private Harold Nix of Newark; the 2nd Missouri Infantry, commanded by Ron Ulrich Jr.; and the 10th Missouri Light Artillery - all portraying Confederate soldiers.
The repeated booms during the skirmish were the result of three pieces of artillery - known to laymen as cannons.
Fired by Tom Terry of Arkansas, a 6-pound howitzer took the field as a part of the 10th Missouri Light Artillery. C.S.A.Barret’s Battery, of the same unit, added a 12-pound 1841 mountain howitzer, fired by Roger Harvell of Lunenburg. Hubbard’s Arkansas Battery (originally attached to Cleburne’s 2nd Brigade) brought a 10-pound Parrot rifle, fired by Charles Berry of Evening Shade.
Ves Phelan, Chester Rout, Will Swanson and Rachel “Jim” Phelan - mounted on sleek, shining horses - portrayed the Union’s Mounted Infantry (cavalry). The men reside in Arkansas and Missouri.
True to the original skirmish, the re-enactment resulted in captured Confederate soldiers.
For the Saturday re-enactment battle, almost 40 soldiers were on the field in Cooper Valley, and the result was closer to the events that actually occurred during the original battle. The cavalry was Union, and the artillery was Confederate, with the Union winning the skirmish.
On Sunday, after so many soldiers returned home, the cavalry was Confederate, and the remainder of the troops were Yankees. The cavalry attacked the cannons, and the Yankees were taken prisoners.
Traditionally, re-enactors like to give the locals a victory in the last battle of any event.
Approximately 250 people observed the skirmishes at 2 p.m. Saturday and at 1 p.m.Sunday, despite the 90 degreeplus temperatures.
The skirmish at Lunenburg during the war was the biggest to take place in present-day Izard County. There was a bigger skirmish across the White River, in present-day Stone County, when that area was a part of Izard. Additional smaller skirmishes took place at Calico Rock and Mount Olive in 1862 and around Wild Haws in 1863, but they were against the local people; no Confederate troops were involved.
The coordinator for the reenactment was Roger Harvell, president of the Izard County Historical and Genealogical Society, who resides in his boyhood home at Lunenburg.
Plans are being made for a biannual re-enactment event, with details to be announced later.
Three Rivers, Pages 132 on 07/25/2010