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Fort Smith
ALSO SEE:
FORT SMITH NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE
FORT SMITH NATIONAL CEMETERY
522 Garland Ave., Fort Smith, AR 72901, (479) 783-5345
From The Civil War Trust's Official Guide to the Civil War Discovery Trail;
Courtesy of Macmillan Travel
Description: Burial place for Union and Confederate soldiers, including
three generals and 1,500 unknown soldiers. Site offers brochure,
mini-museum of local military history, and tours if arranged ahead.
Admission Fees: Free.
Open to Public: Gates open daily: 24 hours. Office: Mon.-Fri.: 8 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Visitor Services: Information; rest rooms; handicapped access.
Regularly Scheduled Events: Sunday closest to Memorial Day: Memorial
Day ceremony; November: Veterans Day ceremony; Dec. 7: Pearl Harbor Day
of Remembrance.
Directions: From I-540: take exit 8A (Rogers) and proceed
toward downtown area. At the "Y" go to the right and take Garrison Road
to Sixth Street. Turn left on Sixth Street - Cemetery is at the end of
Sixth St. where it intersects Garland.
FORT SMITH NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE
P.O. Box 1406, Corner of Third and Rogers, Fort Smith, AR 72902 (479) 783-3961
From The Civil War Trust's Official Guide to the Civil War Discovery Trail;
Courtesy of Macmillan Travel
Description:
Fort Smith National Historic Site preserves the site of two military
posts and the historic Federal Court for the Western District of
Arkansas, noted as the jurisdiction of Federal Judge Isaac Parker
during the last quarter of the 19th century. In 1861, Fort Smith was an
outpost on the western frontier adjacent to the Indian Territory (now
Oklahoma). In April, 1861, Arkansas Governor Henry Rector sent militia
troops to seize the fort and arsenal at Fort Smith.
Admission Fees: Adults, Seniors, & Groups: $4; Children under 16: Free.
Family-Spouse, Parents and Children: $8
Open to Public: Daily: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Visitor Services: Museum; gift shop; information; rest rooms; handicapped access.
Regularly Scheduled Events: Tours and demonstrations throughout the summer.
Directions: From I-40 west: take Rogers Ave. Go west on Rogers
Ave. to the end of the road downtown. From I-40 east: take exit 64B; go
6 miles east; make the first right after crossing the bridge over the
Arkansas River.
Devil's Backbone
Backbone Mountain
Arkansas
September 1, 1863
After the Battle of Honey
Springs, Union Major General James G. Blunt ordered Col.
William
Cloud to continue in pursuit of the Confederate
forces that had withdrawn from
Fort
Smith and chased
Brigadier
General William L.
Cabell's
brigade nearly 16 miles south to a village known as Old Jenny Lind. The Rebels
turned on Cloud and skirmished with him at the base of Devil's Backbone.
Cabell's forces ambushed approaching Union troops and
momentarily halted their advance. Regrouping, the Union forces, with the help
of artillery, advanced again and forced the Confederates to retire in disorder
to Waldron.
The
Battle of Massard Prairie
On July 27, 1864, a Confederate cavalry force launched a
daring sunrise attack on a detachment from the 6th Kansas
Cavalry on Massard Prairie near Fort
Smith, Arkansas.
The Federals were camped on the prairie to guard horses
being grazed there and the Confederates completely surprised them.
More than half the Union soldiers on the field were killed,
wounded and captured in what one Confederate general called a "brilliant
and dashing affair."
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