The Civil War Muse

Pea Ridge Battlefield Monuments

Tour Stop

Directions: The Park's only two monuments are located just south of Elkhorn Tavern across the tour road.

Description: The first monument [ Waypoint = N36 27.178 W94 01.006 ], erected in 1887 by the citizens of Benton County, Arkansas is a memorial to the Confederates that died at the Battle of Pea Ridge. In particular it memorializes, Generals Ben McCulloch, James McIntosh, and William Slack who died in battle at Pea Ridge. The second monument, the Reunited Soldiery Monument [ Waypoint = N36 27.193 W94 01.013 ], was erected in 1889 by Confederate and Union veterans.

“Remembrance and Reunion” Interpretive Sign [ Waypoint = N36 27.187 W94 01.002 ] text reads as follows:

“The two stone monuments you see here reflect the long-lasting grief – and hopes – of the generation of Americans who survived the Civil War. After the war, young men whose lives had been forever changed by this battle began returning to these bullet-shattered forests and blood-soaked fields. They mourned comrades lost and reflected on the meaning of their trial by fire. In 1914 veterans began the call to preserve this battlefield as sacred ground. Their descendants again strove for national recognition in 1924, 1928, 1936, and 1939. In 1956 President Eisenhower finally signed the law to create and protect this legacy as Pea Ridge National Military Park.”

“Confederate veterans raised the older memorial just 25 years after the fight, one of the first in the nation to mark a Civil War battlefield. This stark 1887 obelisk mourned the well-known southern generals lost here: McCulloch, McIntosh, and Slack.”

“The 1889 Pea Ridge reunion was the first to include veterans from both armies. Their marble monument to 'A United Soldiery' honored both 'the untarnished Blue' and 'the unsullied Grey.'”

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