Battle of Pea Ridge
The Battle of Pea Ridge (also known as Elkhorn Tavern) was a land battle of the American Civil War, fought on March 7 and March 8, 1862, at Pea Ridge in northwest Arkansas, near Bentonville. In the battle, Union Army forces led by General Samuel R. Curtis defeated Confederate troops under General Earl Van Dorn. The outcome of the battle essentially cemented Union control of Missouri. One notable fact of this battle is that it was one of the few in which a Confederate Army outnumbered a Union Army.
With the defeat at Pea Ridge, the Confederates never again seriously threatened the state of Missouri. Within weeks Van Dorn's army was transferred across the Mississippi River to bolster the Army of Tennessee, leaving Arkansas virtually defenseless.
The battlefield at Pea Ridge is now Pea Ridge National Military Park. The park is known as one of the best preserved Civil War battlefields. A reconstruction of Elkhorn Tavern, scene of the heaviest fighting, is present at its original location. The park also includes a 2.5 mile section of the Trail of Tears.
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Several global companies are headquartered in the northwest corner of Arkansas, including Wal-Mart (the world's largest public corporation by revenue in 2007), J.B. Hunt and Tyson Foods. This area of the state has experienced an economic boom since the 1970s as a result.
In recent years, automobile parts manufacturers have opened factories in eastern Arkansas to support auto plants in other states. Additionally, the city of Conway is the site of a school bus factory.
Tourism is also very important to the Arkansas economy; the official state nickname "The Natural State" was originally created (as "Arkansas Is A Natural") for state tourism advertising in the 1970s, and is still regularly used to this day.
On the first day of battle, the Confederates struck with the intention of driving the Union defenders away from the Tennessee River and into the swamps of Owl Creek to the west, hoping to defeat Grant's Army of the Tennessee before it could link up with Maj. Gen. Don Carlos Buell's Army of the Ohio. The Confederate battle lines became confused during the fierce fighting, and Grant's men instead fell back in the direction of Pittsburg Landing to the northeast. A position on a slightly sunken road, nicknamed the "Hornet's Nest", defended by the men of Brig. Gens. Benjamin M. Prentiss's and W.H.L. Wallace's divisions, provided critical time for the rest of the Union line to stabilize under the protection of numerous artillery batteries. Gen. Johnston was killed during the first day's fighting, and Beauregard, his second in command, decided against assaulting the final Union position that night.
Reinforcements from Gen. Buell arrived in the evening and turned the tide the next morning, when he and Grant launched a counterattack along the entire line. The Confederates were forced to retreat from the bloodiest battle in United States history up to that time, ending their hopes that they could block the Union invasion of northern Mississippi.
Born near Port Gibson, Mississippi, Van Dorn graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1842 being ranked 52 out of 56. He fought in the Mexican-American War and against the Seminoles and Comanches, and this experience led to his rapid advancement in the Confederate States Army, rising from colonel in March 1861 to major general in September. In this capacity, he commanded the Confederate forces at the Battle of Pea Ridge (Elkhorn Tavern) in Pea Ridge, Arkansas. The Confederates' defeat at this battle enabled the Union to control the state of Missouri. His incompetence at the Battle of Corinth, Mississippi, in October 1862 led to another Union Army victory.
Van Dorn was more effective as a cavalry commander. His action destroying Union supplies at Holly Springs, Mississippi, in December 1862, seriously disrupted Ulysses S. Grant's first Vicksburg Campaign. He was also successful at Thompson's Station, Tennessee, in March 1863.
It was Van Dorn's reputation as a womanizer, not a Union bullet, that led to his death. On May 7, 1863, he was shot at his headquarters in Spring Hill, Tennessee, by Dr. George Peters, who claimed that Van Dorn had carried on an affair with his wife. Peters was later arrested by Confederate authorities, but was never tried for the killing. Van Dorn is buried at Port Gibson, Mississippi.
