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Tuesday morning I tons the train at Fayetteville for Prairie Grove. | U«. ^soiAmong the passengers were perhai s 25 Presbyterian ministers and ia*avalley amen’ on Vhoirw.y to Cane HWu j«rj* ■tend the Presbytery. 1 he raurotm follows a very fertile valley enclosed on either side by heavily woodedthe enti this as 'uii - - prairie 1 shouldmountains. The tot people militaryGrove now numbering 1 *00 peoplewas not in existence at the time °{\ta,.a nf the battle, Dec. 9, 1862. 1 he Con fed*ters ofeiate position was on a wooded ridgeor grove while on each side sloped j -I off stretches of prairie land, hence the i ‘ .Inane Prairie Grove. The ridge ; almost due east and west, the Con | ^federate line faeing north, - he Fa-etteville road passes diagonally oyer j §the battlefield and the only 1 ,on the south side of tie ridge at the iJJ;time of the battle was the lip e Piai- tannin? rie Grove church standing near the |I foot Of the Slope near the Fayette-1 ^ville road. It was used as a hospital.The old church was burned in war Jtimes and another little white ehurchoccupies the same site Gen Hinct man the commander of the Canted-,crate forces established his head- *jouarlers near a largf spring in town , ^ waich is now used by the farmers for j trrnue 1 watering horses. Shells from the■.»»jq Union batteries on the other side of] the ridge passed even beyond h*s. ^headquarters. • I .A brief outline of this bloody fight j ^ j is as follows: Gen. James G. Blufii, s _'commanding the army of the Frontier mostly Kansas troops, held an ad , ^! vaneed position in the mountains atlru.n ,Cane Hill some eight miles southwest of prairie Grove. Gen. Hindman de-,’nt w o wwas am e nsaw aof Wtermined to cut him off by getting in j Jlse tc his rear. Gen Herron stationed at ;Springfield, Mo., with Indiana, Iowa * and Illinois troops aware of Blunt's .danger hurried to his relief making a M forced march of 110 miles in a little more than three days, arriving the | .morning of the battle. Gen. Hindman took position on the ridge to contest Herron’s advance. Herron opened •lui'th with his batteries on tue south side of g . Illinois Creek, soon followed bv a des-j j ,0 perate charge, capturing a Confeder-; ' ^not sany iate battery at the Borden house. The ; w0reLeConfederate infantry supports rallied to the defense of the battery and recaptured it. Blunt being obliged to j morn make a wide detour did not arrive on on tl the field till about 4 p. m. when he at- Oka.I tacked the Confederate left. The kee j battle was fiercely contested neither . build■ i side gaining any decided advantage., cil h■ During the night Gen. Hindman re-U stu ; treated across the Boston Mountains youn I thus leaving the Union army in pcs- GIorsession ot the field. Barr' I was very fortunate in finding a *hos'I very competent guide to go over the ? slt; | battlefield with me and explain the °*various positions and movements andia points of interest in the person ot Mr. JderII W. D. Rodgers, whose father’s farm;sma covered a good part of the battlefield.d i had read in Battle Corners” a very e interesting account of a visit to the a old field by Noble Prentis, a newspa-,ston per man from Kansas. Mr. Prentis 'v*;r tells how Mr. Rodgers, popularly s j known in the neighborhood as Uncle J Bill mounted his white mule anti rodePtaeso a:1)111 111 Vt • * v i * » » a * , *» » * — — — — —over the field with him. It being dif-t O D cblac had thei s a w ron visij the old Rodger’s home built in the j J^ieflcult to cross the many fences with n i horses we made the trip as infantrymen. The first point of interest wasCh«1-3SlatttheChlt;ert“PItheWatienf?1acrceii 1easearly thirties and of log construction.Mr. Rodgers as well as his father were South Carolinians. The house stood on the north slope of the field djand slightly in advance of the left or west wing of the Confederate posi-n tion. The battle beginning at the east end of the ridge; the people living in the houses on the ridge, some 18 in p ' number made their way to thegers home where they took refuge in the cellar. The house was out of dan- £lr ger in the early part of the day so He the people enjoyed watching the artillery duel at the other end of the valley but about 4 p. m. Blunt's army made its appearance from the west f8 and charged the Confederate’s 5 left near the house so the people hurried to the cellar, j boibullets struck the old log house,00 but none were hurt. We then follow-a led the Confederate line of battle:along the timber till we came to the]«® Morton house near the center, now j cc occupied by a Mr. Campbell who was JJJ Gen. Lee's body guard. This was a j double log cabin and a cannon sliot.®' plowed thru from end to end. A little : old wooden building used as a post jT(office stood on the opposite side ot the j*d road at the time of the battle, thedoor and weather-boarding pierced by numerous bullets from the Union line.A little to the west on the same side j5«(north) of the Fayetteville road stoodanother house now occupied by K. C. n .Cummings who fought in the battle as iH I o private in the 34th Ark. and later had his left hand shot off at the battle of Poisin Springs, Ark.initovalsco.i!r‘The* next’place’of interest visited nr. was the Borden house on the Confod-clfcfru u tl fim-tyanhede!1id.erate right now known as the Hall | *» house. The old building was burned lt;at the time of the battle. In front of this house the 19th Iowa, 20th W is. and 94th ill. charged up the high, steep hillside and captured Blocher s . Confederate battery in the orchard back of the house. The supports of • the battery recaptured it and drovethe Federals down the hill. 1 wo otu-er desperate charges were made on this position, l.t. Col. McFarland otthe 19th Iowa being shot trom his horse mortally wounded. Mr. Rodgers from this elevation pointed out the\1. position of the Union batteries and .other points of interest. A fine oi-ty chard of Ben Davis apples had been eg planted since the war on this IOC'-v of I hillside and Mr. Rodgers k ndly plucked some fine specimens which brought north. The view trom this c point was magnificent. The mountain*rose to the height of several hundredui-nttr\It\IC£trlt;• *c\
Newspaper Details
Albert Lea Times Enterprise
Albert Lea, Minnesota, US
Wed, Oct 06, 1909
Page 1
Full Page
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USA 20 Jul 2020
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