A re-enactment of the Battle of Prairie Grove highlights December observances of the Civil War's 150th anniversary period sanctioned by the Arkansas Civil War Sesquicentennial Commission, Chairman Tom Dupree announced.
The re-enactment will commemorate the 152nd anniversary of the bloody battle fought Dec. 7, 1862, between two armies of near equal strength in the last major engagement in Northwest Arkansas. The re-enactment will be Dec. 6-7 at the Prairie Grove Battlefield State Park in Prairie Grove, Washington County.
The Battle of Prairie Grove became a strategic victory for the Union Army, led by Brig. Gens. James G. Blunt and Francis J. Herron, once the Confederate Army of the Trans-Mississippi, led by Maj. Gen. Thomas C. Hindman, withdrew overnight after an intense day of fighting. It would be the last full presence of the Confederate Army in Northwest Arkansas and Missouri during the war.
Confederates suffered losses of 204 killed, 872 wounded and 407 missing, while the Union forces reported 175 killed, 808 wounded and 250 missing, according to the online Encyclopedia of Arkansas.
Other observances of the Civil War during a light December schedule include the commission's traveling exhibit "Civil War Arkansas 1861-1865," at the Monticello Branch Library in Monticello. It will run Dec. 15-Jan. 4.
Also, the exhibit "Freedom! Oh, Freedom: Arkansas's People of African Descent and the Civil War," will continue through the month at the Mosaic Templar Cultural Center in Little Rock.
Event sites and contact information, as well as a schedule of forthcoming sanctioned activities, are available at the commission's website, arkansascivilwar150.com/events.
Metro on 11/27/2014